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FISH
from Romblon is safe for human consumption, said the
Department of Health (DOH). “Fish don’t eat dead
bodies,” said Dr. Eric Tayag, chief of the National
Epidemiology Center in a telephone interview Thursday.
Tayag
was allaying fears of people on and around Sibuyan
Island where a passenger ship capsized last weekend;
they worry that fish caught in the area have eaten human
flesh.
The
Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) had
earlier advised the public—apparently without consulting
the health department—to be careful about eating seafood
caught near the area where the MV Princess of the Stars
sank with nearly 800 people onboard.
The Bfar
show of “health expertise” had led to the people’s
aversion to eating fish they suspect may have been
caught in the area of the sinking.
Tayag
said small fish eat plants while big fish eat smaller
ones, but these never feast on human flesh. “If some
people do not want to eat fish, they should balance
their diet.”
He also
allayed the fears of communities near the sunken ship
that dead bodies found in their area may cause an
outbreak of diseases, and this is why they keep burying
victims as fast as they find them on their shores—not
only because of their foul smell but more so in fear of
diseases.
Tayag
discredited this notion that the corpses spread disease.
“When a person dies, about 80 to 90 percent of bacteria
(present in that body) die too,” adding that exposure to
a dead body has more effect on people’s “mental health,”
not the physical.
In
connection with this fear of beach communities, the
Philippine National Red Cross appealed to them not to
bury the dead but to immediately call the attention of
authorities. Burying them, according to PNRC chief Sen.
Richard Gordon, only complicates identification.
But it
appears that Tayag, on the other hand, had already
advised these communities to take note of the victims’
distinguishing marks and bury each body in individual
graves for future identification.
Tayag
also told residents to bury the victims away from water
tables—apparently, to avoid contamination of their water
supply from the residual bacteria still present. He said
people where bodies had been buried should boil water
for at least 2 minutes to kill bacteria before drinking. |
