Woman dies after eating fish delicacy, husband in ICU

Puffer fish is served as a Japanese delicacy but contains a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which as per National Geographic, is 1200 times more lethal than cyanide.

An 83-year-old woman died after she ate a puffer fish. The incident occurred on March 25 in Johor city in Malaysia. Her husband, who is aged 84, also consumed the puffer fish and is currently recovering in the Internal Care Unit (ICU).

The couple were rushed to the hospital by their son but by 7 pm, his mother, who was identified as Lim Siew Guan, had died.

Guan's daughter, Ng Ai Lee, was informed about her parents' hospitalisation in the family group chat. She rushed to the hospital, but by then her mother had breathed her last.

"I was devastated. The pain and emotions that I felt at the time were indescribable because it was just too unexpected," she told The Star.

"My parents have been buying fish from the same fishmonger for many years so my father did not think twice about it. He would not have knowingly bought something so deadly to eat and put their lives in danger,"  she added.

Johor's health and unity committee chairman Ling Tian Soon said that the woman had experienced breathing issues and an hour later, her husband faced the same symptoms as her.

"They cleaned and cooked the fish for lunch at around 3 p.m, the woman started shivering and having breathing difficulties. Her husband also began displaying similar symptoms about an hour later," Ling Tian Soon, Johor health and unity committee chairman said, The Star reported on Thursday.

"The "cause of death" is given as "food poisoning with neurological manifestation resulting in respiratory failure with cardiac dysrhythmia possibly due to ciguatera toxin or tetrodotoxin ingestion", from the puffer fish," Soon said in a statement.

Malaysia's health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah stated that the data from the Health Ministry said that there had been 58 puffer fish poisoning incidents in Malaysia in the last 38 years. Out of them, 18 had resulted in death.

Also known as fugu, puffer fish is served as a Japanese delicacy but contains a neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin, which as per National Geographic, is 1200 times more lethal than cyanide.

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