Is it safe to eat Acehnese fish?<\/p>\n
By Dewi Anggraeni<\/p>\n
MELBOURNE (JP): Most people are devastated when a terrible,
\nlife-extinguishing accident affects their family. Then, once the
\nloved ones are buried, life goes on, despite memories, grief,
\nregrets and anger, possibly lingering on. Rarely do we have to
\nconfront the remains of our loved ones after the event.<\/p>\n
The trauma experienced by residents of Aceh after fishermen
\ndiscovered human remains in the sharks they had caught is
\ntherefore understandable. The people had not recovered fully from
\nthe Gurita ferry disaster. Now they are faced with the
\npossibility of unwittingly consuming a fish that had not only
\neaten human flesh, but the flesh of their relatives. It is not
\nsurprising that many have been put off eating fish altogether.<\/p>\n
In Australia when fishermen catch sharks or other big fish
\nwith parts of human bodies in their stomach they contact the
\npolice. And the police check the missing persons' files.<\/p>\n
\"Then the offending fish is usually destroyed, so it is not
\neaten by humans,\" says Ray Page, of the Victorian Recreational
\nFishing Peak Body.<\/p>\n
That is well and good. Nobody in his or her right mind would
\neat a fish that had fed on a human, or in whose stomach parts of
\nhuman bodies had been found. However, such a find in Aceh has
\nheightened fears of the possibility of unknowingly eating a fish
\nthat has digested human flesh.<\/p>\n
If the thought makes your stomach squirm, you are not alone.
\nBut it actually harmful to the body?<\/p>\n
Dr Tony Stewart, Public Health Physician of the MacFarlane-
\nBurnett Center for Medical Research, explained that eating the
\nflesh of such a fish is not harmful.<\/p>\n
And if the fish had eaten the flesh of an infected person? The
\nparasites that had infected the human, would have been destroyed,
\ndigested and processed, according to Dr Stewart. Humans who ate
\nsuch fish would not become infected.<\/p>\n
\"You don't usually eat the stomach of the fish. You eat the
\nflesh. Therefore the risk of infection is virtually zero,\" says
\nDr Stewart.<\/p>\n
Dr Stewart says that transmission of most diseases requires
\nclose physical contact or direct contact with the body fluids of
\nthe infected person. This is especially the case with blood
\ndiseases like Hepatitis B and HIV. Risk is high in surgery
\nsituations where the surgeon comes in direct contact with the
\npatient's body fluids.<\/p>\n
In cases where a fish has eaten the flesh of a person infected
\nwith either Hepatitis B or HIV, it would not become infected,
\nbecause the human virus would be destroyed by the fish's
\ndigestive system. And the human who ate the flesh of the fish
\nwould be even further distanced from the virus.<\/p>\n
Physical health is one thing. Emotional well-being is another.
\nThe trauma of those who have directly suffered the loss of their
\nloved ones may have very little to do with eating fish after the
\nferry disaster. However, no doubt there are many who would find
\nsome comfort in the knowledge that the flesh of the fist they
\nhave consumed, whatever the fish had consumed beforehand, would
\nnot have a detrimental effect on their health.<\/p>\n
The writer is a free-lance journalist based in Melbourne.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/is-it-safe-to-eat-acehnese-fish-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }