On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Pat Stephens wrote: > As to raw fish: there is, for instance, a parasitic worm found in fish known > as Diphyllabothrum latum which when ingested and established in the human > body will grow a foot or two in length, just under the skin usually, and > primitives thus infected have only one recourse: they slit the skin, roll up > the worm centimeter by centimeter on a stick, day by day, it takes weeks to > finally remove this parasite. This is the only recourse. Want to gamble that > its' ova are not in the bite of sushi-sashimi you are eating? Are all food > producers ethical, and dedicated to our health? Just a correction here. The above paragraph is talking about two different parasites. Diphyllabothrum latum is a tapeworm and is described in Pat's later post. The parasite actually described in the above paragraph is the Guinea Worm (Dracunculus). I just happen to know about it because the roomate of a friend was in the Peace Corps in Africa where they are working to irradicate it. The Guinea Worm is not contracted by eating fish - it is contracted by drinking contaminated water. And, contrary to what I posted earlier, it is difficult to treat and harmful once it gets to a certain stage. The Peace Corps volunteers were basically removing the worm before it got to that stage (by cutting a slit in the skin and pulling it out - the method was developed by a doctor in India or Asia where it is also a problem) and teaching the locals how to avoid infection and spread of the parasite. Michael