CNN: Roman Kuchta
US salmon may carry Japanese tapeworm, scientists say
(CNN) If you eat raw or undercooked fish, you risk developing an infection from parasites.
One of the most gruesome is tapeworm, a species of digestive tract-invading parasites that includes Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense, or the Japanese broad tapeworm.
Though this worm was commonly believed to infect only fish in Asia, a study published Wednesday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's monthly journal Emerging Infectious Diseases (Kuchta R., Oros M., Ferguson J., Scholz T. 2017: Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense tapeworm larvae in salmon from North America. Emerging Infectious Diseases 23: 351–353.) says wild salmon caught in Alaska had also been infected by this parasite.
Based on those results, researchers warn that salmon caught anywhere along the Pacific coast of North America may be infected.
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