Eat Raw Fish ... Get a 9-Foot Tapeworm

Chicago Man Joins International Ranks of Those Who've Been Infested From Eating Raw Fish in Recent Years

By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit
Abc News

One summer day in August 2006, Anthony Franz went to a Chicago area hospital carrying a 9-foot worm.

He did not find it in his garden.

Anthony Franz case is one of a growing few in urban cities across the world and in the United States discovering (or rediscovering) that some of the most popular fish can host tape worms.

(Getty Images/Courtesy Centers for Disease Control)

Franz is one of the few, but growing number of tapeworm victims in cities across the world who are discovering (or rediscovering) that some of the most popular fish can host parasites.

Although still rare, a study this June showed salmon tapeworm infestations tripled from an average of 0.32 cases per 100,000 people each year in Kyoto, Japan, to at least to 1 case in 100,000 people in 2008. As more people adopt sushi and undercooked fish diets around the world so too, has the worm spread.

The article, printed in Emerging Infectious Diseases, tracked the movement of tapeworm infection for 20 years as reports migrated from rural fishing villages in Japan to urban centers around the world, including France, Switzerland and the United States. Read more...