You're enjoying a cross-country drive,
but you're getting hungry.
As you pull in for gas,
you notice some sushi,
and it looks delicious.
So you buy some to snack on
during your drive.
Before long,
you feel nauseous
and have severe stomach cramps.
And after relieving yourself,
you see blood in your stool.
Oh no.
You ate bad sushi.
And if you don't act fast,
you could lose a limb,
do permanent damage
to your nervous system,
or die.
Here's
Sushi has long been popular in Japan,
and it arrived on the U.S.
mainland in the mid 20th century.
Its popularity has exploded,
and now, sushi is a $22 billion
a year industry worldwide.
Bluefin tuna is the most
popular fish for sushi.
And mackerel,
swordfish,
red snapper,
Japanese Yellowtail,
and salmon are also popular.
But while it's a popular food,
eating sushi can be risky.
Many dangers lurk around eating raw fish.
If the fish, and the sushi,
aren't correctly stored and handled,
you risk getting severe bacterial infections.
If you're lucky,
you'll just feel nauseous and have diarrhea,
but if you're not lucky,
you could eat flesh-eating bacteria
and need your limbs amputated.
And eating raw fish can also bring
parasites such as tapeworms into your body.
But how would you even know
if a tapeworm was eating you from the inside?
In 2018,
Kenny Bahn arrived at an emergency room.
He had eaten a lot of raw salmon
and said he had blood in his diarrhea.
He showed the medics a plastic bag.
Inside the bag,
wrapped around a toilet paper roll,
was a tapeworm
that Kenny had pulled out of himself.
The tapeworm was a whopping
1.7 m (5.5 ft) long.
It's estimated that 83% of sushi
has a low bacteria count,
but what about the other 17%?
Is it worth giving in to your sushi cravings?
If you're longing for these raw fish delights,
what could you do to survive eating bad sushi?
Start by looking at reviews
of the sushi restaurant.
See if it is highly rated,
and whether anyone has
reported getting food poisoning.
And set standards
when it comes to buying sushi.
Go to restaurants that specialize in sushi,
and do not buy sushi from a gas station.
Always ask about the quality of the fish.
When was it bought,
or how long have they had it,
how do they store it,
and how long it has been on ice?
The U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Protection
says that fish should be frozen
at -20 °C (-4 °F,)
and it can be kept for up to a week.
If you're a bit of a daredevil
when it comes to food,
you have probably heard of fugu,
or puffer fish.
Puffer fish is one of the
most deadly fish in the world,
thanks to its tetrodotoxin.
This toxin is 1,200 times
more poisonous than cyanide.
An amount the size of a
head of a pin is enough to kill you.
And one puffer fish has enough
toxin in its body to kill 30 people.
A chef who creates fugu sushi
needs to take extra training.
Before you eat any puffer fish
or fugu sushi,
make sure it's prepared by a chef
who earned the special license.
If the fugu sushi
is not prepared correctly,
and some of the toxin
is left in your meal,
you're in for a rough time.
If you eat bad puffer fish or fugu sushi,
your mouth will go numb.
Next, you'll begin to feel dizzy,
get a headache,
and have nausea.
Then you'll begin to lose
your ability to breathe.
And before long,
you'll be paralyzed.
You'll need to be put on a respirator
or you'll die.
And the odds are not in your favor,
since 60% of people with fugu poisoning die.
You're learning the info you need to survive,
but using it is key to surviving.
So if you've eaten a more
common kind of fish sushi,
and you feel any of these symptoms,
get medical help right away.
Watch out for stomach cramps.
Next, you could have a fever,
then diarrhea that contains blood.
And remember,
if you ate a lot of sushi,
and the fish had high enough
levels of mercury,
you could feel burning
in your throat and stomach.
You also risk damaging
your nervous system and your kidneys.
But if you've eaten a parasite
like a tapeworm,
you might not feel it right away.
Over time though,
you might lose your appetite.
You could also feel week,
tired,
and lose weight.
Can you guess what the next step is?
If you ate fugu sushi,
once you feel your tongue is numb
and you have nausea,
your respiratory system will soon shut down.
Being on a respirator
for the next 24 hours
is your only chance to survive.
If you have mercury poisioning,
you might need to be placed
on intravenous fluids.
And you may need to go through
gastrointestinal decontamination
to help remove the mercury.
Knowing what you ate and how much
are key pieces of information
to give the medical staff.
This is the radical step
you've been waiting for.
The easiest way to stay safe from bad sushi
is to avoid it altogether.
But you can continue eating sushi safely
if you swap the raw fish
for cooked ingredients.
Just choose some delicious crabs,
cooked crawfish,
chicken, or smoked salmon.
If the restaurant you're going to
is reputable
and has a history of good quality food,
you don't have to worry too much.
And while consuming raw fish
could be deadly for you,
what if a fish decided to eat you?
Fear not.
We have a video about
how not to become a fish's next meal.
Watch
How to Survive Piranha.