Eight (8) children die after eating sea turtle in Zanzibar

At least 78 people had to be hospitalized and 9 others died in the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar after eating sea turtle meat.

Eight of the deceased are children.

Eating sea turtle flesh can cause chelonitoxism, a rare but potentially fatal food poisoning. No antidote is known to counter intoxication.

The symptoms are severe: they can range from simple nausea to throat ulcerations. Other patients experience partial paralysis or fall into a coma.

Local authorities have dispatched a team to the island of Pemba to manage this health crisis. This was able to trace the origin of all cases to a meal containing sea turtle, eaten on Tuesday March 5.

A previous epidemic in 2021

According to Skynews, Minister Hamza Hassan Juma expressly asked the population not to consume dishes made from this marine animal. And for good reason, this is the second deadly epidemic of the decade.

In November 2021, a three-year-old child and six adults lost their lives on Pemba Island after consuming this food. Three other people had to be hospitalized.

As an explanatory page in Vidal explains, chelonitoxism transmitted by turtles could be “linked to poisonous algae that turtles eat”.