A Japanese tapeworm has infected salmon that was caught off the North Alaskan coast, a new study published by the Centers for Disease Control revealed.
The tapeworm, known as Diphyllobothrium nihonkaiense, has caused thousands of infections in the Asia Pacific since 2008, according to the Washington Post. But now, researchers determined people who eat raw salmon caught in North America may be at risk of contracting the tapeworm infections.
An increased popularity of eating raw fish and "global importation" has caused the reemergence of the tapeworm, the study found.
The study concluded, “salmon from the American and Asian Pacific coasts and elsewhere pose potential dangers for persons who eat these fish raw.”
Researchers studied 64 wild pacific salmons and found the tapeworm in a single pink salmon that was caught near Hope, Alaska.
The main intent of the study, researchers wrote, was "to alert parasitologists and medical doctors about the potential danger of human infection with this long tapeworm resulting from consumption of infected salmon imported (on ice) from the Pacific coast of North America and elsewhere."
