The Shenzhen Municipal Health Bureau published a food hygiene warning in the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily on Monday urging people not to eat raw or partly cooked fish, shrimp or crab. It said an estimated 5 million people in Guangdong are suffering from oriental liver fluke because of eating raw freshwater fish and shrimp.
In a survey of fish products at markets, stores and restaurants in January, the bureau found liver fluke larvae in 10 of the 16 fishery product categories tested. Tench, dace, carp, bullhead, rockfish, tilapia and African crucian topped the danger list with more than 19 percent of the specimens carrying the larvae.
In 2004, 31 of the nation's 90 cases of liver fluke were confirmed in Shenzhen.
The bureau also warned people not to feed raw fish products to pets. The parasite infests a number of animals, including dogs, cats, pigs and rodents, which can serve as reservoirs for infestations.
Humans are usually infested after swallowing the larvae from raw, dried, smoked or pickled freshwater fish. The larvae, which originate from a water snail, reach the fish via a complicated life cycle.
Once ingested, the larvae migrate up the bile duct from the gut and mature into adult worms in the gall bladder over a four-week period.
Liver discomfort is the most common symptom, occasionally accompanied by bouts of fever, nausea, diarrhea and jaundice. Severe cases may suffer permanent liver and pancreatic damage.
Since the parasites can live for years and the number of parasites tends to increase as a person ages, the damage to the liver and bile duct tends to accumulate over time and can eventually result in death.
Also on Monday in Shenzhen, Tang Jie, secretary-general of the city's government, refuted a rumor that a customs employee had died of Ebola hemorrhagic fever.
Tang said the report titled China's First Deadly Ebola-infected Case Occurred in Shenzhen, which appeared on the www.epochtimes.com website and was then reprinted by Singapore's Lianhe Morning News, was groundless.
The report said that Shenzhen customs workers had contracted the Ebola virus from sailors aboard a foreign-registered ship as they were conducting an inspection for suspected smuggling. The infection had caused "heavy casualties," the story said.
The local government promptly conducted an investigation when it received notice of the report from the China Office of the World Health Organization via the Ministry of Health, said Tang. The investigation showed that there had been no such contact between Chinese customs employees and foreign smugglers.
Another investigation by the Shenzhen Health Bureau excluded any active cases of Ebola in the city.
Meanwhile, the nearby Macao Special Administrative Region announced on Monday that it will terminate the mandatory health checks at land and harbor checkpoints that have been imposed since the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
The Macao Health Service said that it will instead give out brochures providing warnings and advice on personal hygiene at customs.
The health inspections, which entail completing health declaration forms and temperature checks using infrared scanners, will be kept in place at Macao International Airport because the Asian region is still on alert against bird flu and encephalitis outbreaks.
(Shenzhen Daily, Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2005)
