A new study published in the journal Global Change Biology in March 2020 on the occurrence of certain worms in raw or undercooked seafood, in the form of sushi, sashimi, nigiri, etc., reports an increase in the number of parasites by over 280 times over the last 40 years. This could have dramatic effects on the health of both humans and marine mammals, both of which may accidentally ingest the worm. The worm species that were examined in this study were Anisakis, or the herring worm, a nematode (roundworm) parasite that has been studied in many different places and times. The current paper assimilates the results of thousands of different papers to find out how the number of these worms has changed over time.

Thomas, L. (2020, March 21). ‘Worm alert’: Sushi parasites have increased 283x in the past 40 years. Panay News, p. 9.