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Pufferfish Poisoning: Man In Coma Dies After Being Hospitalised For Almost A Week

Pufferfish Poisoning: Man In Coma Dies After Being Hospitalised For Almost A Week

His death follows a few weeks after his wife’s death on the day they ate the pufferfish in Kluang, Johor.

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The 84-year-old man in Kluang, Johor, who was in a coma after consuming pufferfish, had passed away.

He died on Saturday (8 April) after being hospitalised for almost a week, Malay Mail reported.

He was transferred to the medical ward on Wednesday (5 April) in a conscious state with stable vital signs.

At the time, he was still breathing with a respirator and fed through Ryle’s Tube (a type of medical catheter).

However, at about 5.20am three days later, he was unresponsive while the nurse attended to another patient. Emergency assistance was immediately provided before he was pronounced dead at 6.20am.

The remains of the deceased have been handed over to the Forensic Unit before being handed to his next of kin for funeral arrangements.

The deceased was the spouse of the 83-year-old woman who passed away on 25 March in the Intensive Care Unit at Hospital Enche’ Hajjah Kalsom.

Her death was identified as food poisoning with neurological manifestations resulting in respiratory failure and irregular heart rate possibly due to toxin ingestion.

She was laid to rest at the Chamek Chinese cemetery on 29 March.

What happened?

On 25 March, the couple cooked pufferfish and ate the fish for lunch. She started experiencing breathing difficulties and shivering. An hour later, her husband displayed the same symptoms.

They were rushed to the hospital’s emergency unit by their son, who lives nearby. They allegedly bought the fish from a fishmonger they had known for years.

READ MORE: Johor Couple’s Pufferfish Purchase Via Facebook Takes Deadly Turn

The couple’s daughter, Ng Ai Lee, 51, previously said her parents didn’t know they were eating pufferfish and that her father wouldn’t knowingly put their lives in danger.

Due to this incident, health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the sale of pufferfish, which contains a dangerous neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, is not allowed to be sold in Malaysia.

The sale of pufferfish is controlled under the Malaysian Fisheries Development Authority Act 1972 and Section 13 of the Food Act 1983 prohibits the sale of any food that has any poisonous substances, harmful or otherwise injurious to health.

In Japan, pufferfish are eaten as a delicacy and can only be handled by trained and experienced chefs. This is an expertise and regulation that Malaysia does not have.

However, University Malaysia Terengganu vice-chancellor Mazlan Abd Ghaffar said not all pufferfish species are poisonous such as the thorny or spiny pufferfish, which is widely sold in Sabah and the Philippines market.

READ MORE: Sale Of Pufferfish With Poisonous Toxins Prohibited In Malaysia, Says Health DG


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