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parasite watch ‘06

I’ve reached 48 hours post-possible parasite consumption, and so far without any symptoms of infection manifesting, I’m starting to relax a little.

The pathology report came back. It’s Anisakis simplex, also known as herringworm. Really freaking easy to kill, if you COOK YOUR FOOD. Someone in the kitchen that night screwed up bigtime - according to the FDA, this is not a thing commonly found in restaurants.

The good news is, other than the worst tension headache I’ve ever had, I feel fine. My stomach is definitely upset, but unless it gets much more severe, I’ll chalk it up to stress.

The bad news is that it can take as long as two weeks for Anisakiasis (that is, the infection caused by ingestion of Anisakis) to manifest.

The other good news is, there have only been 50 cases reported in the US, pretty much ever.

But then the other bad news is it often gets totally misdiagnosed as a bunch of other awful things, so who knows how accurate any of this is. They can definitively diagnose Anisakiasis when, you know, you cough up some nematodes.

So. That’s that.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 12:51 am and is filed under Creepy, Food, Los Angeles, Science and Nature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “parasite watch ‘06”

  1. lorna Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 5:01 am

    Oh, crap.

    As of 2:57AM, I am suddenly wide awake with a feeling exactly like pins and needles in my stomach.

    As if I am going to sleep at all, now, tonight.

  2. Corey Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 6:31 am

    Hi Lorna, exciting cliffhanger - but I’m crossing my fingers it’s just nerves and little wee psychosomatic fairies. ;o)

  3. lorna Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 6:40 am

    hey!

    not exciting at all. it is most probably pure anxiety. but then OMIGOD WHAT IF IT’S NOT?

    y’know.

    thanks for the well-wishes.

    stupid tingly psychosomatic fairies be damned. i’m going back to sleep.

    two days down, 12 days to go.

  4. Noah Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 8:45 am

    ugh… I’ve had food poisoning from a certain LA restaurant (can’t help but wonder which yours was!) — in my case it only lasted a day, but it was one of the most miserable days of my life.

    Hugs and get-well wishes from both of us here across the pond!

  5. lorna Says:
    November 16th, 2006 at 2:56 pm

    thanks noah!! i went back to sleep for a few hours and am feeling a little better. very squirrely stomach. today’s been all about being on the phone. but i got to fink out the restaurant to the public health department, which felt really GREAT.

    congratulations, by the way, on catching your WindowFink in the act. what a great shot, too!

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