Remarks, according to "Elements de parasitologie medicale", Y.-J. Golvan,
Flammarion 1983: asinakiasis appeared in 1955. The nematode larvae are 2cm (0.8
inch) long, and can be found in herring, cod, mackerel. The larvae tend to
migrate from the guts to the flesh during freezing, which explains human
contamination (humans are thus accidental hosts).

> Sashimi cannot be
> prepared from frozen fish, and the Japanese would not forgo their deeply
> entrenched taste for raw fish in return for freedom from a disease that
> affects "only" several hundred people each year.

Remark: The Japanese population is about 115 million, and asinakiasis kills
several hundred people each year.
The French population is 57 million, and car accidents kill 8500 people each
year. And several hundred people win at the lottery each year.

> Please note that despite his intimate knowledge of parasites, Desowitz
> continues to enjoy the consumption of raw saltwater fish. However,
> freshwater fish which very often do contain parasites he does not advise to
> eat raw.

...and perhaps it is hard to find freshwater fish from non-polluted areas?

Jean-Louis
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