"sickness" news and stories

We already heard about the warning against eating raw oysters from the Pacific Northwest, but the USDA has recently extended the warning to include clams. So far, 72 illnesses have been directly linked to the shellfish, with another 105 cases suspected of originating from contaminated seafood. All of the cases have been in Washington, Oregon and New York, where the oysters and clams from the Puget Sound area are widely available.

Symptoms include "diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills, [and] usually start within 24 hours and last no more than three days." Cooking can kill the bacterium, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, that is linked to the sickness and the symptoms are unpleasant enough that you would be better off not taking any chances until the warning is lifted.

Source

This will hopefully serve as a warning to all of you adventurous eaters out there. Two men were apparently plagued with intense hallucinations and later hospitalized after consuming Salema porgy or Sarpa salpa (right), a highly poisonous reef fish, according to an article in Practical Fishkeeping. The article says the fish was served in restaurants in the western Mediterranean, but does not say exactly where. This 'fish poisoning' or ichthyoallyeinotoxism is generally associated with fish from the Indo Pacific, including certain types of  "mullet, goatfish, tangs, damsels and rabbitfish." The hallucinations, which are supposedly on par with psychedelics like LSD or DMT, have earned these toxic fish the nickname "dream fish."