Beware of the Barracuda

For you barracuda lovers, if you don’t want to end up in the hospital – DON’T EAT IT ! That’s the warning from public health officials. This is after 10 people had to be hospitalized since August 9th, with fish poisoning also known as Ciguatera Poisoning. Now, no one has actually died from this illness but it causes some serious symptoms and it can severely impact persons with other conditions such as diabetes. Today Senior Public Health Inspector Lisa Tillett explained what Ciguatera is why you have to stay away from barracuda at this time because of it.

Lisa Tillett, Sr. Public Health Insp., MOH
“So whatever is a toxin mostly in Barracuda fishes. We have other fishes that they can have it also. How the Barracuda gets the Ciguatera toxin inside them is they would eat on the smaller fishes and the smaller fishes would have the toxin them because they eat the little algae from the bottom of the sea.”

Reporter
“Let’s say you go ahead and you buy the fish. What are some of the symptoms that you can look out for and when do you actually go to the hospital?”

Lisa Tillett, Sr. Public Health Insp., MOH
“It’s a toxin and if you know anything about toxins, toxins go directly to the nervous system. So you will start having tingling in your toes, fingers, lips, and throat. You will start will the abdominal cramps, headache, vomiting, diarrhea – it’s something that occurs rapidly and that’s what food poisoning is all about. The time it takes to react in the body. So it will start anything from like an hour to like 3-4 hours after you consume it.”

“The first case was a family from Sandhill and they happen to buy the fish at the same location that the second family bought it from. So this was easy for us to find the source in this case. But in most cases it would be a little bit difficult to find the source, but this one was easy for us.”

Reporter
“And the source as mentioned in the release, it’s a vendor in Ladyville.”

Lisa Tillett, Sr. Public Health Insp., MOH
“Yes, but how we do is go and see the person directly and inform them of what’s happening. Because with the Ciguatera, some fishermen will be able to see that’s something is wrong, but others won’t be able to smell, see or that nothing is wrong with the fish. They would just sell it as normal and us we wouldn’t know the difference between none of them.”

Reporter
“What are some of the things that we should look out for specifically when buying Barracuda?”

Lisa Tillett, Sr. Public Health Insp., MOH
“See and that’s the thing, common people like you and I we won’t be able to spot anything wrong with it and that is why we are just asking to refrain from consuming. To be on the safe side, just refrain from consuming.”

As you heard, the first case was brought in on August 9th, since then 10 others have had to be taken to hospital for poisoning. 2 of the 10 are still hospitalized due to other conditions that were aggravated because of the toxin. The others were released about 12 hours after they were admitted to the hospital. Now as you heard, you might not be able to tell which barracuda fish is contaminated, and some fishermen don’t know either, but for those fishers who do, health officials are asking that you do not sell the contaminated barracuda. And for you consumers – health authorities warn: do not eat barracuda at this time. We will keep following up on this public health issue.