A total of 523 Chinese villagers suffered from food poisoning symptoms after eating durian from a capsized cargo ship in Guangxi on August 26, the local disease control center announced on Tuesday, the state media said.
A later investigation showed that they were infected with vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterium, which, when ingested, causes gastrointestinal illness in humans, and was probably caused by the durian becoming contaminated by sea water.
An announcement from the local government on August 27 said 101 of the villagers suffered from abdominal pains, diarrhea and vomiting while others only displayed mild symptoms. Nine people are currently in hospital,
Video clips circulating online showed the villagers rushing to the sea to try and recover durian floating on the sea water’s surface, after a cargo ship loaded with durian overturned around 200 meters away from the coast of Dongxing in Guangxi on August 26.
Local authorities tried to stop the villagers, but they still managed to recover some durian.
More common in the sea, vibrio parahaemolyticus bacterium is a microorganism that favors salty food, and is commonly found in food poisoning cases in coastal areas in the summer and autumn months, Guangxi Center for Disease Prevention and Control said.
It often lurks in fish, shrimp, crab, shellfish and other seafood, and occasionally spreads through salted products like pickles, seasoned meats and salted eggs. It is suspected the durian, soaked in sea water, could have been contaminated with the microorganism.
Experts said the incubation period for those infected with the bacterium ranges from 1 hour to 4 days, but lasts 10 hours in most cases. The symptoms resulting from its ingestion start quickly, and include chills, abdominal pains, nausea and vomiting, followed by fever, diarrhea, and watery or bloody stool.
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