Anisakis

By Laura Clavero, Elena Alcalá & Marina Aguilar

anisakis

Eliza Lape & Ben Manilla's case

History

How can we avoid getting it?How can we make it dissappear?

General data

What is anisakis?

What is anisakis? What are its effects?

Anisakiasis is a parasitic condition that is acquired by ingesting certain foods, such as raw or undercooked fish that contains a larvae of the anisakiadae family. Anisakis is a parasite between 20 and 30 millimeters long whose larvae is housed in multiple marine species, and can affect humans. The types of fish that most frequently contain this parasite are hake and bonito.

Photos

It can affect humans through two ways. In the first case, it is caused by immediate mediated hypersensitivity. The second type of mechanism involves the local effect of the parasite on the wall of the digestive tract, although the first type is usually the most common one.

Causes

Is it hereditary?

No, you cannot inherit anisakiasis, because the disease is caused by eating food that contains anisakis, it is not genetic. If you are pregnant, you can put the baby at risk, but not infect the baby with the disease.

General data

Symptoms of an anisakis infection can be digestive or allergic, and they always appear quickly, within the first 12 hours after ingestion. From the digestive point of view, it usually manifests itself with severe pain located in the abdomen and accompanied by nausea and vomiting.

Normally we will see it in cod, sardine, anchovy, herring, salmon, haddock, hake, whiting, mackerel, bonito, horse mackerel, among others.

In which types of fish can it be found?

Symptoms

Where does it come from?

These larvae are found in sea fish and squid. It isn't found in another animals, only in fish and not in all of them.

How can we avoid getting it? How can we make it disappear?

Countries affected

86%

It isn't dificult to get anisakis. In Spain in 2015, 36% of the fish from around the peninsula that people ate had anisakis. Other 50% of fish from the Cantabrian sea had the same problem. So, in total, in 2015, 86% of fish were contamined and 8000 people got anisakis because they had eaten anchovy. Japan, in the fist position, and Spain in the second, are the most affected countries.

To eliminate anisakis, it is necessary to reach a temperature of -20ºC, also to freeze for five or seven days.

There are two ways to eliminate anisakis:

To eliminate anisakis we must cook the fish properly for at least 2 minutes at a temperature over 60°C. This means that this temperature must reach the center of the product. Boiling, frying or roasting allow us to kill the anisakis without taking any risks.

2. Heating or pasteurization

1. Freezing

The best treatment for severe cases of this intestinal infection is to remove the anisakis parasite early by performing an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Usually, for milder cases, the symptomatic treatment of anisakis is with antibiotics to stop intestinal discomfort and irritation; corticosteroids for allergic symptoms.

How can we eliminate it from our bodies?

HISTORY

First anisakis cases

1991

1876

ELIZA LAPE & BEN MANILLA'S case

Ben and Eliza were in their honeymoon in Hawaii when they started feeling sick. When Ben got into the hostital, they both realised they had eaten sushi some days ago.

I felt like somebody was taking a hot knife and stabbing me in different parts of my body.-Eliza

Thanks!