Butete Dish: 17 People Hospitalized Due To Puffer Fish Poisoning

17 People Hospitalized After Eating Butete Dish

BUTETE DISH – Seventeen (17) people were brought to the hospital after eating a pufferfish or ‘butete’ dish.

There are several poisonous fishes in the ocean. They contain toxins that may cause serious injury or death to a person. Among the most poisonous fish are stonefish, red lionfish, and the puffer fish.

A puffer fish is very common in the Philippines. It expands when it perceives a treat and mostly found in the open sea and brackish water area.

Puffer fish may look harmless but it contains a gland that secretes a venom that is 1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide.

There had been death reports and poisoning from “butete” eating in the past but people still continue to eat this certain type of fish. The country’s fishery authorities have already advised the Pinoy not to eat butete but some people in the province ignore the warnings.

Based on a report from CNN, seventeen (17) people were hospitalized in Ozamiz City after eating the venomous “butete,” among the victims were 5 kids.

The councilor in Barangay San Antonio, Dionesio Manlegro Jr., said the victims ate four (4) kilos of “butete” cooked in coconut milk on August 8.

According to the report, the victims felt numbness, nausea, abdominal pains and vomiting around 2 in the afternoon.

The councilor said all of the victims frequently eat that kind of fish. However, they suspected that the cook might not have removed all the toxins from one of the fish.

Based on the report, one of the butete dish victims probably ate most of the food with poison. He/she was currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

The rest of the victims suffered from abdominal cramps and numbness. Meanwhile, the sample of the food was brought to the health office of the city to be examined.

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