20,000 people die every year from Thai food

A specialty from Thailand’s Khon Kaen province is considered one of the deadliest foods in the world. The fish dish called koi pla is responsible for around 20,000 deaths a year, scientists at Khon Kaen University have warned. But how can food be so deadly?

Koi Pla is cheap, quick to prepare and tasty. For the dish, fresh, raw fish is cut into small pieces and mixed with spring onions, lemon juice and herbs. It is similar to Peruvian ceviche. What makes Koi Pla so dangerous is a parasite that enters humans through fish and can cause liver cancer with acute liver failure.

The process is gradual and brutal. The parasite Opisthorchis viverrini, also called the Southeast Asian liver fluke, lives as a worm in fish. When eaten by humans, it travels from the stomach through the intestines to the bile ducts, where it burrows into the mucous membrane, grows into an adult and lays eggs. These are excreted in people’s feces, which can lead to a response from the immune system, tropical doctor Christoph Specht now explains to RTL.

“In combination and over years, this then leads to cancer,” says Specht. After eating the affected fish, it can take up to 40 years for the cancer to break out. The first symptoms of a so-called bile duct carcinoma are very difficult to recognize. Who thinks of a parasite infestation when they suffer from flatulence or stomach pain? As a result, the diagnosis often comes too late for the patient.

What is the solution? Don’t eat raw fish, say Thai researchers. But many locals stick to the fish dish. Specht advises tourists in the region: “When you are traveling, you should definitely not eat raw fish.” Only boiled or fried fish can be assumed to have killed any parasites.