01 December 2006

Public Health Advice: Eating Raw Whitebait - Update

NSW Health is alerting people not to eat raw whitebait. This follows the reports of three women, treated at two Sydney hospitals with severe gastroenteritis. Two of these women have been diagnosed with cholera. It is expected that the third woman will also be diagnosed with cholera once testing is complete.

All three women were suffering severe diarrhoea. All women have recovered.

The common factor in each of the cases is that all three women had recently eaten raw whitebait, which was bought from local fish shops and was initially understood to have come from China. Subsequent investigation by the NSW Food Authority has identified that the whitebait was imported from Indonesia and sold as 'Nanata'. This whitebait from Indonesia is no longer on the market.

Chinese whitebait was tested and found to be free of bacteria which cause cholera and not implicated as the source of the women's illness.

NSW Health says it is a timely reminder to the public not to eat raw whitebait. Thorough cooking of seafood will kill cholera.

Symptoms of cholera include severe diarrhoea and dehydration. Cholera is contracted from eating contaminated food or water. There is little risk of person-to-person infection.

NSW Health asked public health units to ask emergency departments, infectious disease doctors and laboratories to be alert for other cases. No other cases have been identified.

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au