Health

6-year-old boy dies of poisoning after drinking grass carp bile to cure illness

HA (according to Vietnam+) 23/01/2025 - 21:19

After hearing that drinking grass carp bile can cure diseases and improve health, the family gave the child the drink. A few minutes after drinking, the child showed signs of cyanosis, respiratory failure, and slow heart rate.

Khoa Cấp cứu và chống độc tại Bệnh viện Nhi Trung ương. (Ảnh: PV/Vietnam+)
Emergency and Poison Control Department at the National Children's Hospital

On January 23, the National Children's Hospital reported that doctors at the hospital had received a case of grass carp bile poisoning, a 6-year-old boy in Son La. Doctors tried their best to save him, but the child's condition was too severe to survive.

Taking the patient's medical history, the patient's family said that in the past 2 weeks, the child had pneumonia and was being treated at the district hospital. After hearing that drinking grass carp bile could cure the disease and improve health, the family gave the child the drink themselves. A few minutes after drinking, the child showed signs of cyanosis, respiratory failure, and slow heart rate. The child was given emergency treatment at a local medical facility and then transferred to the National Children's Hospital.

The child was taken to the National Children's Hospital in a critical condition, with respiratory and cardiac arrest. Despite emergency treatment, the child's heart was revived, but due to the severity of the patient's condition, he did not survive.

According to doctors, poisoning cases due to swallowing grass carp bile are quite common, but usually in adults, because many people think that grass carp bile is very good for health, even has medicinal effects, so they eat fish bile. However, inside the bile of fish belonging to the carp family such as silver carp, bighead carp, grass carp or even sturgeon, there is a dangerous toxin called 5α-cyprinol. This is a toxic alcohol compound of bile with 5 hydroxyl groups in the molecule. This toxin is stable to heat, retains its toxicity when cooked, so even when cooked, eating it will still cause poisoning.

When swallowed into the stomach, this poison causes damage, inflammation, ulcers in the digestive tract, abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea... Then it quickly causes damage, kidney failure, renal tubular necrosis, liver damage causing liver failure...

In mild cases, grass carp bile poisoning often causes digestive disorders such as abdominal pain, vomiting, and frequent loose stools, but urination is still normal. Severe cases can lead to acute kidney failure, acute liver failure, multiple organ failure, anuria, coma, and possibly death.

HA (according to Vietnam+)
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6-year-old boy dies of poisoning after drinking grass carp bile to cure illness