In Aomori Prefecture, it was confirmed that a person complained of symptoms due to "gakkochu", a parasite that enters under the skin and causes itching and swelling.
Many of them were eating whitebait raw, so Aomori Prefecture is calling attention to heat when eating freshwater fish.
According to Aomori Prefecture, from September to November this year, about 130 people, mainly in the Sanpachi Kamikita region of the prefecture, visited medical institutions complaining of itchy skin, which was significantly more than usual. A type of parasite called gnathostoma was detected in the patient.
If freshwater fish parasitized by larvae are eaten without being heated, gnathostoma migrate under the skin and cause symptoms such as itching and swelling.
In the worst case, it can move to the eyes and cranial nerves and cause blindness and paralysis, so it is treated by taking medicine or removing it by surgery.
Many of the patients who visited a medical institution this time ate the whitebait raw without heating it.
Symptoms caused by gnathostoma were reported in Akita Prefecture 20 years ago, but there have been few cases recently.
Aomori Prefecture calls for heating when eating freshwater fish, including whitebait.