Experts blame crayfish for muscle-wasting cases
By Li Xinran |
September 8, 2010, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
EATING crayfish has been confirmed as the cause of muscle degeneration suffered by at least 23 people in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, officials told a press conference in the provincial capital yesterday.
All the cases so far were due to Haff disease, which involves the swelling and breakdown of skeletal muscle and occurs within 24 hours of ingesting seafood, experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities said.
The patients involved were all found to have eaten crayfish.
Twenty-two of them have recovered and have been discharged from hospital.
Wu Yongning, a research fellow with the center, said the Nanjing patients all ate crayfish four to 13 hours before they got sick and complained of muscle pain.
He said that all of them had been found to have elevated damaged muscle cells in their bloodstream, a result of the breakdown of muscle fibers and subsequent release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. The disease brings with it the risk of kidney failure and can be fatal.
Wu said Haff disease had been reported in the Baltic Sea area, the Mediterranean region, the United States, Brazil and also in Beijing but exactly what causes it is still unknown. No chemicals or microbes had been discovered in crayfish that would trigger the acute syndrome, experts said.
They suggested local food safety watchdogs keep an eye on the crustaceans, which are similar to lobsters but much smaller, even though tests in the province had found them to be safe.
Crayfish are also known as "mudbugs" because they can live in heavily polluted water but the breeders in Nanjing said the crayfish they sold were raised in clean ponds and lakes.
The outbreak of Haff disease due to crayfish was initially discovered in Nanjing in July.
Last Monday, a case was reported in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.
Some media reports quoted a business insider as saying a detergent used to clean crayfish was to blame. But food safety authorities said the powder could not cause the condition.
All the cases so far were due to Haff disease, which involves the swelling and breakdown of skeletal muscle and occurs within 24 hours of ingesting seafood, experts from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities said.
The patients involved were all found to have eaten crayfish.
Twenty-two of them have recovered and have been discharged from hospital.
Wu Yongning, a research fellow with the center, said the Nanjing patients all ate crayfish four to 13 hours before they got sick and complained of muscle pain.
He said that all of them had been found to have elevated damaged muscle cells in their bloodstream, a result of the breakdown of muscle fibers and subsequent release of muscle fiber contents into the blood. The disease brings with it the risk of kidney failure and can be fatal.
Wu said Haff disease had been reported in the Baltic Sea area, the Mediterranean region, the United States, Brazil and also in Beijing but exactly what causes it is still unknown. No chemicals or microbes had been discovered in crayfish that would trigger the acute syndrome, experts said.
They suggested local food safety watchdogs keep an eye on the crustaceans, which are similar to lobsters but much smaller, even though tests in the province had found them to be safe.
Crayfish are also known as "mudbugs" because they can live in heavily polluted water but the breeders in Nanjing said the crayfish they sold were raised in clean ponds and lakes.
The outbreak of Haff disease due to crayfish was initially discovered in Nanjing in July.
Last Monday, a case was reported in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.
Some media reports quoted a business insider as saying a detergent used to clean crayfish was to blame. But food safety authorities said the powder could not cause the condition.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
