VietNamNet Bridge - On April 24, the Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, received four cases of poisoning due to eating cicadas, said doctor Pham Tri Dung, Head of the Emergency Ward.

 

 

The four victims include Mr. Nguyen Van L. (63 years old), Mr. Pham Van X. (57), Mr. Vo Van L. (35) and Mr. Le Van C. (50), living in Dat Do district, Ba Ria-Vung Tau province. They were hospitalized in a state of lethargy.

After initial treatment, the four patients were transferred to the Ward of Tropical Diseases. Doctors said the victims had been out of danger.

According to the patients’ family, while digging in the garden for planting egg-plants, Mr. L. detected a nest of cicadas. L. and his friends captured cicadas to fry as food.

Right after eating cicadas, all four men vomited, were convulsed and froze. L’s family members thought that the victims had an apoplectic fit so they scratched the wind and took them to bed.

However, the victims’ health situation got worse so they were taken to the Dat Do District Clinic. The same day, they were transferred to the Ba Ria Province Hospital and then to the Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City.

Dr. Dung said that cicadas themselves are not toxic but perhaps they were contaminated underground. Two months ago, Cho Ray Hospital received a critical case because of eating cicadas.

After investigation, doctors found out that the victim was not poisoned with cicadas but a fungus that grows on the bodies of the insects. Thankfully, after a period of active treatment, the patient was rescued.

Dr. Dung advised people not to eat strange animals to avoid the risk of toxicity, health effects, and their life.

Thanh Huyen