The outbreak of this disease occurred for the first time in 1924. People living near Frisches Gaff Bay and eating fish from these waters began to experience strange symptoms. Gaff or Yuksovskaya disease is alimentary, that is, they become infected with it through the use of fish containing toxic substances. Moreover, weeding and heat treatment does not always remove these toxins.
What is Gaff disease?
The scientific name for this strange disease is paroxysmal toxic myoglobinuria.
The name of the disease comes from Gaff Bay. Sometimes the disease is also called Yuksovskaya, since diseases that cause liver and kidney failure were also recorded near this lake.
These places are now endemic areas, in addition, outbreaks of the disease are also recorded near Lake Sartlan in Western Siberia.
Symptoms
The disease begins (like ordinary food poisoning) - with nausea and vomiting. And then, as the poison spreads through the body, other symptoms appear.
Gaff disease symptoms are:
- Muscle pain that makes it impossible to move independently.
- Convulsions as from severe poisoning.
- Black urine and other symptoms of liver failure.
- Failures in the work of the heart.
- Later on, mental abnormalities begin.
When the liver begins to fail, there will be no pain. And the first signs are itching of the skin, darkening of the urine and yellowness of the eyes. Pain is felt in the right side only when the liver has already grown in size and presses on the parenchyma.
The kidneys are gradually failing. Symptoms of failure of the urinary organs are as follows: an increase in the amount of urination, the appearance of "hoarfrost" on the skin - urea crystals, swelling. People with kidney failure lose their appetite and become lethargic. Women don't have their period at the right time. Complete kidney failure leads to severe anemia and heart problems.
It is believed that kidney failure and muscle pain are the main symptoms. Others may not show up. To find out what is causing the symptoms, you need to see a doctor after the onset of muscle pain. Only a doctor can distinguish Huff disease from ordinary food poisoning.
Is it possible to die from a disease?
The death rate from Gaff disease is only 1-2% of all those infected. If you immediately deliver the patient to a doctor who will determine the disease and prescribe treatment, then the prognosis is usually favorable.
Suchsymptoms like itchy skin and profuse urination cannot be ignored.
Without appropriate treatment, death can occur as a result of asphyxia (suffocation) due to atrophy of the muscles of the larynx or uremia.
Causes of fish poisoning
Until now, the exact cause of the toxin in fish is unknown. According to one version, the fish becomes ill when it feeds on blue-green algae. According to another version, nitrogen fertilizers penetrate the water and poison water bodies.
Be that as it may, fishing is allowed only in those waters that have passed sanitary control.
Properties of disease causing toxin
The exact toxin causing these symptoms has not yet been identified. It is only known that the substance is quite resistant to heat treatment and is fat-soluble.
Perhaps the accumulation of the substance leads to a severe deficiency of thiamine in the body and because of this, muscle pain occurs. Experiments on cats showed that the introduction of a large dose of vitamin B gave good results, and the animals recovered faster.
Treatment and prevention
The treatment for Gaff disease is fairly simple. The cause of the disease is not a virus, and not a bacterium, but toxins that can be removed with a dropper with glucose. The patient is required to undergo hemodialysis and drink plenty of fluids. A liver cleanse is essential! What is the liver responsible for? To cleanse the body of toxins. She is also undergoing urgent peritoneal dialysis.
If the main filter "breaks", toxins quickly capture all cells and tissues. As soon as the work of the liverthe color of urine is restored, bilirubin decreases, and the yellowness of the sclera of the eyes disappears.
In severe cases, when intoxication has spread through the circulatory system, a blood transfusion is prescribed.
In the process of treatment, the patient must follow a strict diet. Even when you feel better after hemodialysis, you should not eat foods rich in sodium or phosphorus.
Prevention - food control. Fish can only be caught in places that have passed sanitary and epidemiological control. And in unknown reservoirs, you can catch fish only for the sake of excitement, but not eat the catch in any way.
Conclusions
After eating fish caught in polluted waters, the process of kidney and liver failure begins. At the same time, a person who is sick with the disease develops spasms of the whole body and weakness due to muscle pain.
One symptom is dark brown urine. Why is urine dark? The color is due to an excess of the pigment bilirubin. This is a classic sign of liver poisoning.
If the disease is started, heart problems, severe anemia will soon begin; muscle weakness will develop, up to the appearance of problems with breathing air.
