Liu Minxia
mllmx@msn.com
CRAWFISH is increasingly popular among Shenzhen diners, but four Shenzhen residents have been hospitalized after eating too much of the crustacean. Doctors warn residents to avoid eating the head of crawfish and to drink a lot of water if they feel muscle pains after eating crawfish.
The four patients ate about 1 kilogram of crawfish between them, including the crawfish heads, before falling ill, according to Zhou Qidi, director of Peking University Shenzhen Hospital’s emergency department. They are suffering from Haff disease which is usually caused by ingesting certain kinds of fish, Zhou said. They are staying in the hospital for treatment, but their lives are not in danger.
Two of the patients are a father and daughter who had crawfish at a local restaurant Saturday and became ill early Sunday morning. The daughter complained of diarrhea, while the father’s symptoms were not as serious.
The other two patients were women in their 30s. One of them bought the crawfish from a wholesale wet market in Futian District, and cooked them at home. Doctors say there is a possibility that the crawfish were contaminated by the so-called “crawfish washing powder,” which is often used by sellers to make the crawfish look fresh and clean.
Haff disease is the development of swelling and breaking down of skeletal muscle, and carries a risk of acute kidney failure within 24 hours of ingesting the fish. There have been media reports of crawfish causing outbreaks of Haff disease in other parts of China.
Different from ordinary food poisoning, patients do not vomit or have other gastrointestinal symptoms, but feel unbearable muscle pain. Doctors diagnose it as rhabdomyolysis, and in serious cases it could impair renal function.
“We need more tests to see whether their symptoms were caused by crawfish,” said Zhou. “But they all became ill after eating too much crawfish.”
If any symptoms occur after eating crawfish, Zhou advises residents to drink a lot of water and see a doctor as soon as possible.
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