Hong Kong dieters warned over swallowing parasitic worms

Dieters in Hong Kong have been warned by government doctors that they may be risking their lives by swallowing parasitic worms that can grow up to 15 inches long.

Published: 11:41AM GMT 09 Feb 2010

The city's department of health said that Chinese-language websites have been offering products containing potentially fatal parasites as a means of losing weight quickly without eating less.

The weight loss remedies use the eggs of Ascaris worms – giant intestinal roundworms which grow up to 15in in length in a host's intestine and lay up to 200,000 more eggs a day inside the body.

A spokesman for Hong Kong's department of health said swallowing the parasites could cause abdominal pain and distension, vomiting, diarrhoea and malnutrition.

"Parasite infestation may also be fatal if serious complications such as intestinal, biliary tract or pancreatic duct obstruction arise," the spokesman said. "The worms may even invade such organs as the lungs.

"The infestation can be treated with medication that kills the parasite. The worms may require surgical removal if there are obstructions."

He urged people to consult doctors before dieting and said the only healthy and effective means of weight loss was to eat less and take regular exercise.

Dieting is big business in Hong Kong where obesity levels have soared because of sedentary lifestyles, fast food diets and long office hours in the workaholic city of 7 million.

Clinics and websites in the former British colony offer a bizarre variety of questionable weight loss methods including sweat-inducing body suits, fat-dissolving injections and even flammable paraffin wraps to literally burn off belly fat.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7195990/Hong-Kong-dieters-warned-over-swallowing-parasitic-worms.html