There are many seafood lovers in the world, and they have been the most popular food for more than a year. Sushi, rolls, oysters and mussels - this is undoubtedly terribly tasty, but not always safe. Recently, due to environmental problems, improper maintenance of marine inhabitants, cases of poisoning by seafood have become more frequent. Sometimes various types of ailments can lead to serious consequences.
Causes
Intoxication of the body occurs due to violations of storage standards, product preparation. Unscrupulous manufacturers neglect the basic requirements of sanitation, thereby causing irreparable harm to potential consumers.
There may be other reasons for seafood poisoning:
- The presence of an allergic reaction - the inhabitants of the sea are a powerful allergen. Due to the presence in the composition of various components that affect histamine receptors, a reaction occurs. Consequences may occur in the form of skin rashes or nausea, diarrhea.
- Overeating - often large portions cause serious consequences in the form of poisoning. Protein in the body is broken down for a long period, so a large amount of it is processed even longer, and this causes heaviness in the stomach. The product begins to decompose, discomfort appears, nausea.
- Toxins are the most common cause of seafood poisoning. For example, there are a lot of chemicals in shrimp, and mercury in squid. Crabs contain a large number of Escherichia coli, because they eat a lot of decomposed food and other things. It is important to know how to eat a crab, how to cook it to avoid poisoning.
Dangerous seafood
In addition to the above representatives of the sea, there are still fish that are very toxic. They must be properly cooked so that toxic substances do not fall into the dish. These types include the famous puffer fish. If the cook is inexperienced and makes even the slightest mistake, this will lead to the inevitable death of the consumer.
In addition to fish and shellfish, sauces are also dangerous, which season the finished dish. You need to pay attention to them, since often a very spicy and oversaturated sauce is necessary in order to hide the spoilage of seafood. This is important, because the state of a person depends on such knowledge. He probably will not feel the difference, and the consequences will overtake him after a while. Can seafood poisoning occur in a day? Of course yes. Especially if enough has been eaten. A spoiled dish can begin to break down only the next day, and then both malaise and nausea appear.
Symptoms
Symptoms of seafood poisoning is an indicator that suggests that medical attention is needed urgently. Primary signs include high fever, acetone breath, headaches, dry mouth.
Next comes a series of serious symptoms, which are one hundred percent fact that a person is poisoned.
- The abdomen constantly rumbles, vomiting and diarrhea appear.
- Severe weakness.
- Neurological ailments, which are expressed by muscle tone.
- The epigastric region constantly aches and hurts.
Especially dangerous cases cause tachycardia, lowering pressure. Man as a whole cannot adequately perceive reality. How much seafood poisoning occurs depends on how much was eaten. It is important that shrimp or mussels can affect a person’s condition quickly enough.
The remaining marine inhabitants affect the body after a certain period of time, on average a day later.
First aid
What to do with seafood poisoning? The first thing a person needs to do is to take basic self-help measures. These include gastric lavage. It is necessary to arm yourself with ordinary clean water or saline, potassium permanganate is also effective. After that, consume this liquid in the amount of 1.5 liters or more. Then immediately it is necessary to induce vomiting, so that all the liquid comes out. For the period of time before the arrival of an ambulance or taking the next medicine, the effect of cleaning is enough. A person should feel better.
The main stages in the provision of PHC
After identifying the main signs of seafood poisoning, you must go to the hospital. Treatment in the hospital, as well as at home, should consist of three stages.
- Sorbents - are included in the group of basic tools that help cleanse the stomach of toxins. Activated carbon, Smecta or Polysorb will do the job perfectly.
- Rehydration therapy - in order to restore the water balance in the body, it is necessary to drink a special solution consisting of water, sugar and salt. You can also buy at the Regidron pharmacy.
- Symptomatic therapy - if the temperature rises markedly, you need to drink "Paracetamol". Provided that nausea and vomiting do not go away, you can use "Tserukal".
Self-help first aid is permissible only for healthy adults. If seafood poisoning has caught a pregnant girl or child, then you urgently need to go to the hospital or call a doctor at home. You can help if the condition is too critical. But it’s best to check with your doctor over the phone during a call so as not to harm even more.
Treatment
Seafood poisoning treatment begins after a general assessment of their condition. Use antibiotics only if there is an infection in the body. As a rule, this is expressed by high temperature. With severe vomiting, they drink special drugs and do rinses. But this is acceptable for mild poisoning.
In severe cases, the person must be hospitalized. The hospital already checks the body for the presence of E. coli, in accordance with the result, a special serum is prescribed.
Products at risk
Seafood poisoning is often due to these types of marine life:
- Mussels - their meat is very useful for humans, as it is filled with useful elements and acids. During cooking, the product undergoes heat treatment, so harmful substances disappear. Raw mussels, as a rule, contain a lot of dirt and infections, because they filter seawater. From this option, you can easily get poisoning and not only.
- Oyster - the product consists of a large number of polyunsaturated acids, which positively affect the functioning of the human body. They are consumed raw, therefore poisoning is a regular event in this case. The oyster must still be alive. Dead causes a number of consequences associated with the work of the stomach.
- Crabs - contain a lot of copper and vitamin B. Positive effect on the work of the heart, on vision. They must be consumed, but it is important to know how to eat crabs, how to cook them in order to protect themselves from poisoning.
- Scallops - they contain many different trace elements, as well as useful substances like phosphorus, magnesium and iodine. With normal consumption, they affect the work of the digestive tract positively. The unspoiled product has a pleasant pinkish color, and smells like a sea. If you want to eat them raw, then preference should be given to live scallops.
- Squids - useful for serious problems with the work of the heart, because they contain a large amount of potassium. Squid helps to boost immunity due to arginine and lysine, so the product is often given to children. For this reason, it is important to know how they are, so that in no case poison the child. Squid meat must be white. To understand whether a product is really fresh in front of a person, it is enough to simply cook it. If a lot of foam appears, then the squid repeatedly defrosted and frozen. The bitter taste also speaks of corruption.
Complications and consequences
If you do not provide timely medical assistance to the victim, then the condition can quickly change for the worse. There are situations when poisoning reaches such an extent that a person falls into a coma, and then dies.
Severe illnesses such as acute acute pancreatitis, liver inflammation, renal failure, and pathologies associated with the gall bladder can also develop. Exhaustion is possible.
Disorders in the body may appear in the form of neurological damage. Brain activity is noticeably worsening, a person becomes distracted and lethargic.
If an allergy appears, then Quincke's edema or anaphylactic shock, covering the whole body, is also possible. The condition is very dangerous and requires the immediate assistance of specialists.
Poisoning is especially difficult for pregnant women and children.
Prevention
To avoid sudden poisoning, you need to look at what exactly goes into food. When a product is purchased, it is best to examine its quality certificates, which must be present at the seller. You must carefully monitor the expiration date of the product.
High-quality and fresh seafood is an expensive pleasure. Low cost suggests that the goods are likely to be expired. It is best to verify the quality of the seafood than to answer for this omission with your own health.