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Sushi lover found 5 feet long tapeworm in his body

A California sushi lover reported to hospital saying he had just voided a five-foot long tape worm, according to Dr. Kenny Bahn’s podcast This Won’t Hurt A Bit.

A California sushi lover reported to hospital saying he had just voided a five-foot long tape worm, according to Dr. Kenny Bahn’s podcast This Won’t Hurt A Bit.

The man claimed he discovered the tapeworm “wiggling out” when he was sitting on the toilet. And then he said, “I took out a toilet paper roll, and wrapped around it, of course, is what looks like this giant, long tapeworm.”

At first, Dr. Bah was skeptical of the tapeworm claim, but the man then showed him the toilet paper roll. After that, doctors unraveled the tapeworm and found out it was five and a half feet long.

Salmon from the Pacific coast of North America may represent a source of human infection of tapeworms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

There have been no similar cases in the Metro Vancouver region, according to Vancouver Coastal Health. However, BC Center for Disease Control says “ready-to-eat sushi is considered a potentially hazardous food.”

The centre advises supplier and retailer in B.C. to follow strict parasite destroying procedures, which require freezing raw fish to destroy parasites at temperatures of -20°C or below for 7 days, or -35°C  or below for 15 hours or -35°C  until frozen and held at -20°C  for 24 hours.

They also suggest the public request written documentation from the supplier to ensure that it meets the parasite reduction freezing requirement when purchasing frozen fish.