Thai salad kills 20 thousand people a year

The famous Thai salad Koi Pla It is a typical traditional dish, consumed not only in Thailand, but also in Laos and the region, and quite often. Although it has been proven that it is responsible for the death of about 20,000 people a year, writes novini.bg.

It is minced freshwater fish from the Mekong Basin, flavored with lemon juice, herbs and spices, and it is the fish that is the main concern for people's health. In 99% of cases, it is infected with parasitic flatworms, known as live flukes - considered the cause of one of the most aggressive types of cancer, cholangiocarcinoma or cancer of the bile ducts, writes Telegraph.

"This disease is an absolute scourge on the health of the local population," admits liver surgeon Narong Kunthikeo of Khon Kaen University in Thailand. "And since the number of people dying from it here is huge, the population is literally used to not paying that much attention.

He is well aware of the development of the disease, as both his parents died of the same disease, consuming Koi Pla all their lives. Kuntikeo then traveled extensively throughout the rural areas of northeast Thailand to warn people about the dangers of eating her.

However, the dish is so popular that his efforts even so many years later seem doomed. His hopes are that at least the younger generation will take his advice and this will reduce the death rate in the area.

Otherwise, Cholangiocarcinoma itself is called the "silent killer" and has one of the lowest survival rates without surgery. And Isan, Thailand's largest province, has the highest number of biliary tract cancer cases in the world.