Daijiworld Media Network - Puttur (SP)

Puttur, Apr 6: 14 persons were hospitalized after consuming curry made of flesh extracted from the head part of hamour fish, which is considered to be a delicacy. The incident occurred at Uppinangady in the taluk.

There is huge demand for 'hamour' fish which is known in local parlance as 'Amuru'. As there is huge demand for the flesh of this kind of fish, skull portions of these fish are cut off, and the remaining flesh is exported. The heads, which too are sought after for their unique taste, of these fishes are sold locally. Many go to fish markets seeking to buy the heads of hamour fish.

Fish vendors bring these heads normally from Mangaluru and sell at various places including Uppinangady. On Sunday, two families living near Kootelu had bought these heads, and prepared curry out of them. Within sometime after they consumed this dish, ten persons including four children from these houses started throwing up, and suffered from dysentery. Their skins turned purple, and as time passed, more problems like breathing difficulty, immobility of facial muscles and itching surfaced. The itching was prominently experienced in their palms and at the bottoms of their feet.

After they got admitted into a private hospital at Uppinangady and were treated there, there was improvement in their health condition. A person from Koppal, who had bought the same fish on Monday said four members of his family too experienced similar symptoms, and they too were treated at the private hospital at Uppinangady.

No one is sure as yet about this strange phenomenon. as people have been eating this kind of flesh since ages without any side affects. Some however, claimed that big size hamour fish are caught by injecting poisonous substances into their bodies. They feel that toxic contents from these injections, or harmful chemicals in the sea would have got concentrated in the head regions of these fishes, giving rise to these symptoms. Some others felt that fish vendors would have used some chemicals to preserve the fish for longer periods, and that these chemicals would have caused side affects in the bodies of those who consumed the fish.

Veteran medical practitioner from Uppinandary, Dr M R Shenoy, said that this was a case of food poisoning. He said that bodies of some people strongly react to certain kind of food like chevon meat extracted from goats, consumption of pineapple etc. Allergy and such other symptoms are normally observed in such patients, which can be treated. All those who got treated for these symptoms have recovered, he added