Sushi worms on the climb in Japan - but expert says ‘no need to panic’

Sushi worms on the climb in Japan - but expert says ‘no need to panic’

By Justin Ong @JustinOngCNA
17 May 2017 07:38PM (Updated: 17 May 2017 07:44PM)

SINGAPORE: A local food safety expert on Wednesday (May 17) cautioned against overreaction but called for added deterrence, in light of warnings from both Japanese and Western authorities last week on parasitic infections caused by eating raw seafood.

Japan’s health ministry released figures showing a spike in reported infections by the Anisakis worm, from four in 2004 to 126 last year. And doctors in Portugal filed a medical report linking the growing recognition of Anisakis cases in the West with the increasing popularity of Japanese raw seafood delicacies like sushi and sashimi.

The doctors had found Anisakis larvae - up to 3cm long and 5mm wide - in the gut lining of a Portuguese man after he consumed sashimi at a Japanese restaurant.

An Anisakis parasite attached to the gut lining of a man, as seen in an endoscopy (Photo: BMJ Case Reports)

This particular worm infects crustaceans, fish, squid and marine mammals, said Associate Professor Kevin Tan of National University of Singapore’s Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

“The larvae of the parasite can be found in the muscle tissue of fish. Humans can be incidentally infected through consumption of raw or undercooked seafood containing the larvae of the worm,” he explained.

“The ensuing disease is known as anisakiasis. The signs and symptoms of anisakiasis are abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, abdominal swelling, diarrhoea, and mild fever.”

Said Professor William Chen, Director of Nanyang Technological University’s Food Science and Technology Programme: “This parasite will not be present in all fish. But consumers of a diet and lifestyle with lots of raw fish, for example in sushi and sashimi, tend to have a higher risk of infection.”

“This is not something new,” he added, noting that anisakiasis cases have been reported since the 1950s. “There is no need to panic. But prevention is critical.”

“NO HARM IN PROLONGING FREEZING”

Typical preventive measures to kill parasitic larvae include deep freezing - as soon as the fish is caught - and cooking at high temperatures, although exact guidelines differ across countries.

In Japan, consumers are recommended to keep fish frozen below minus 20 degrees Celsius for at least a day, or to heat it for at least a minute at over 60 degrees.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the other hand advises freezing fish at either minus 20 degrees for seven days, or minus 35 degrees until solid and then storing at minus 20 degrees for 24 hours.

In Singapore’s case, fish must be frozen at minus 18 degrees or below, and no higher than minus 12 degrees.

“There are no specific conditions,” Prof Chen admitted. “It also depends on the number of worms present in the fish, or the thickness of the fish. All this is a guideline - to make sure all parasites are properly killed, there is no harm in prolonging freezing.”

He said the supplier accreditation scheme by Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) - all food entering the country must originate from approved sources - comes with the necessary preventive measures which should give consumers confidence in local food quality.

But Prof Chen acknowledged that consumer awareness and action was a potentially “tricky” matter.

“It would be cumbersome to always not trust the food you are eating, to always ask questions etc.,” he pointed out. “But perhaps Government agencies can provide information on the source or supplier of Japanese restaurants here. I think that would give people a good gauge of what they’re in for.”

Read more at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sushi-worms-on-the-climb-in-japan-but-expert-says-no-need-to-8857386



- wong chee tat :)

Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers

Conficker worm hits University of Utah computers

April 12th, 2009

(AP) -- University of Utah officials say a computer virus has infected more than 700 campus computers, including those at the school's three hospitals.

University health sciences spokesman Chris Nelson said the outbreak of the Conficker worm, which can slow computers and steal personal information, was first detected Thursday. By Friday, the virus had infiltrated computers at the hospitals, medical school, and colleges of nursing, pharmacy and health.

Nelson says patient data and medical records have not been compromised.

"That's secured in a much deeper way because of the implications," he said.

Nelson said the virus is mainly attacking personal computers and could be siphoning login and password data, credit card numbers and banking information.

Directions for purging the virus from personal computers and equipment like thumb drives, digital cameras and smart phones has been distributed to staff and students.

Information technology staff shut of Internet access for up to six hours at some campus locations Friday so they could isolate the virus. They were expected to work through the weekend to eradicate it from the system.

Mindy Tueller of the university's office of information technology said all faculty and students should take steps to make sure they are protected. The virus does not infect Macs.

"It can do a lot of bad things," Tueller said. "Every university member should be concerned about this if they're using Windows-based devices."

©2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

In addition, there are new reports about the features and their behavior of the worms!

Conficker also installs fake antivirus software

Conficker now definitely downloading updates

Kaspersky Lab detects new version of Conficker worm

- wong chee tat :)

Conficker Worm Prepares For A New Release On April 1

Conficker Worm Prepares For A New Release On April 1

March 27th, 2009 by John Messina

(PhysOrg.com) -- The conficker worm created havoc last year when it infected over 10 million computers on a global scale. The unique design of the conficker worm allowed for this large scale attack to over 8 million business computers and scores of individual computers in 2008.

The conficker worm is periodically evolving by downloading updates that creates thousands of false domains daily to throw off security investigators. On the day it chooses to update, it selects 500 correct domains out of the 50,000 candidates to download malware and updates from.

• On the first release it tried to download and execute a file called loadav.exe. It turned out that the file was never uploaded and the next generation did away with this. This led investigators to believe it was a malware program trying to promote itself as fake antivirus software.

• The second release, the worm used Windows Services, on unpatched machines, to spread. This new release also had the power to spread over network shares by trying to log in autonomously into network machines with weak passwords. It developed the ability to infect USB sticks connected to infected machines, giving it another means of transmission.

• On the final and third release, which became know as the Downadup virus, peer-to-peer communication between infected systems was added to it's arsenal of weapons. The virus also added new domain-generation algorithms to help it disguise where it was receiving its updates from.

Microsoft is offering a bounty for the worm's writers and security experts are no closer to having any clue as to the individual or individuals who are writing the Conficker code.

As Conficker continues to spread and get smarter, there is little doubt it's creating an army of infected machines, one that can cause serious damage. On April 1 we will see the attacks be taken to the next level. One can only guess what this next release has in store for the Global Internet Community.

© 2009 PhysOrg.com

- wong chee tat :)