Eating raw fish is prone to liver cancer

Recently, scientists from Khon Kaen University (Thailand) warned: Eating raw fish is prone to liver cancer from liver fluke infection. Millions of people in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam have been infected with liver fluke. Research conducted by the Thai team has been conducted for the past 20 years and has only been published recently.

Thai scientists call on people in Southeast Asia to abandon the habit of eating raw freshwater fish to avoid the risk of liver cancer caused by liver fluke.

According to the research team, the culprit causes liver cancer in people who like to eat raw fish dishes (such as fish salad, undercooked fish .) are liver fluke - a common parasite in the rivers belonging to the rural areas of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Korea, China and Vietnam.

Many types of freshwater fish are intermediate hosts of liver fluke , and people who eat raw fish will be infected with this parasite. Freshwater fish reared in ponds and fish living in rivers and canals are equally susceptible to liver fluke infection.

Fascioliasis in humans (Photo: microscopyu)

The lead researcher, Dr. Banchob Sripa, of the Department of Pathology of Khon Kaen University (Thailand), said: 'Although the rate of liver cancer in people infected with liver fluke is less than 1%, but now There are millions of people infected with this dangerous parasite in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Thailand, there are 6 million people infected '.

In the paper published in the latest edition of the journal Public Library of Science (PloS) in the US, the team said that most people with liver fluke infection have no symptoms, but after many years, one some of them have liver cancer.

For the past 20 years, Dr. Banchob and colleagues have studied the link between liver fluke infection and liver cancer, especially bile duct cancer. During the study, experts discovered that liver fluke infection was particularly serious in the provinces of North and Northeast Thailand - where fish like ' Koi-Pla ' were very popular. .

In an interview, Mr. Banchob said: 'Not eating raw fish is the easiest way to avoid infection with liver fluke'.

He said liver fluke invaded the bile duct and its attack would cause a cytokine " storm " - a cellular activator. This is a very strong immune reaction, so strong that it not only kills the liver fluke but also kill the surrounding tissue.

The tube said: 'There are two mechanisms of liver fluke attack. First, it can bite the outer epithelium of the bile duct and cause ulcers; The second is that it causes cholecystitis. People with more and more inflammatory cytokines have more inflammation, and they are at risk for cancer later. '

According to the research team, 'liver cancer is often diagnosed late because the symptoms of the disease appear very late. Therefore, when diagnosed with liver cancer, most patients are in advanced cancer stage, like stage 4, so they can only be treated in the form of 'water still slapped'. only It is difficult to detect the initial lesions in the liver caused by cancer, because there are no symptoms at the beginning of the disease. '

Mr. Banchob said: 'Most patients with liver cancer die within 6 months to 1 year after the disease was discovered. No liver cancer patients survived five years'.

There are two types of liver fluke : liver fluke and small liver fluke.Fascioliasis is often transmitted to humans through beef, buffalo meat, goat meat, pork ., while small liver fluke is often transmitted to people due to the habit of eating hot fish, fish salad.

Small liver fluke is a complex periodic parasite that includes both humans and intermediate hosts (such as snails, fish .).Small liver fluke eggs in the bile are then excreted out in the feces, if water is met, they will hatch into larvae.Larvae find the first intermediate host, snails.In snails, hairy larvae develop into tail larvae.Then the tail larva leaves the snail and finds freshwater fish (second intermediate host) to reside.Here the tail larvae develop into larval cysts located in the fish fibers - this is the stage of infection.

If you eat raw fish (fish salad) or undercooked fish, the larvae will follow food into the intestinal tract then enter the bile duct, become adult small liver fluke and cause disease.The time from larval invasion to the appearance of adult flukes is likely to cause disease in about 3-4 weeks.

Liver fluke can live up to 30 years.So, liver fluke, if not cured, can last for many years and cause unexpected and dangerous complications, including liver cancer.

People with liver fluke infection often experience pain in the liver (right hip), fever, thinning, rash and digestive disorders.If not treated promptly, it can lead to hemorrhage, severe anemia, liver rupture and death.

Quang Thinh

According to Reuters, EurekAlert !, Wikipedia, VNN