# Can people catch diseases from fish?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 28, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315 "2007-10-28T07:47:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2007, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315/1 "2007-10-28T07:47:20Z")
I might catch some brain-wasting disease by eating the wrong part of a cow or any other mammal, and I could get avian flu from a bird and salmonellosis from a reptile. But what about from contact with or consumption of fish? Of course, I could get heavy metal poisoning, but what about an actual disease? Do fishmongers or fishermen come down with any such afflictions?
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2007, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315/2 "2007-10-28T07:52:25Z")
There are [several, including **Mad Fish Disease**](http://www.fishlore.com/Articles/DiseasesTransmittedToHumans.htm) :eek:
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### Author:  [@Silence\_of\_the\_clams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silence_of_the_clams)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315/3 "2007-10-28T11:25:46Z")
All the afflictions mentioned in the link above seem to relate to handling fish,
so I’ll mention [ciguatera](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciguatera) which is a kind of food poisoning you can get when eating fish in tropical regions.
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### Author:  [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315/4 "2007-10-28T11:53:51Z")
A few years back Cecil wrote a column warning of the dangers of the [candirú fish](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000519.html). Close contact often results in a painful medical condition whose only treatment (until recently, at least) was penile amputation.
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### Author:  [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2007, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-catch-diseases-from-fish/424315/5 "2007-10-28T14:26:00Z")
[QUOTE=Koxinga]
But what about from contact with or consumption of fish?
[/QUOTE]
Worms, especially with the growing popularity of raw fish dishes throughout the world.