The fish almost killed Moshe - luckily for him, the medical team in Haifa managed to save him

Moses was saved from the fish of death

The innocent slice of fish threatened to suffocate and paralyze Moses from the Carmel. The innocent fish he ate turned out to be Abu Nafa fish, which is capable of paralyzing the respiratory muscles and causing the eater to suffocate and die within hours.

Only quick identification by the emergency room staff of Carmel Hospital together with intensive and professional treatment by the intensive care unit and the internal medicine department managed to save Moshe's life.

"It's important to pay attention and not to eat unidentified and unfamiliar fish, it could have ended in disaster. I'm glad we were able to save Moshe." says the director of Carmel's emergency room, Dr. Salim Halavi. 

A big, beautiful and... dangerous fish

For 5 years in a row, Shamshe Cohen, a resident of Tirat Carmel, starts his morning with a healthy walk on the beach in Haifa. The 68-year-old Moshe has already seen many realities and surprises on the beaches, only this time, the big fish that fluttered and jumped on the beach winked at him especially.

"Suddenly I saw in front of me a big shiny and beautiful fish coming out of the water, and I thought it would be interesting to taste it for lunch," says Moshe. Only that Moses did not know that the beautiful and shiny fish was none other than the Abu Nafha fish, a very dangerous fish to eat that could also cause death to those who eat it.

Moshe began to suffocate

A few minutes after Moshe finished frying the fish and eating a piece of it, he already began to feel dizzy, but still did not make the connection that the cause was eating the fish. "Suddenly I felt like the whole world was starting to spin around me," says Moshe. "I felt like I was suffocating and I had no air and I didn't understand what it was, I immediately told my wife to take me to the hospital urgently."

In the emergency department of Carmel Hospital (emergency medicine department), Moshe complained of nausea and dizziness, but did not mention the fish he ate. The medical team started with routine tests and symptomatic treatment for nausea, until the moment when the diagnostic sharpness of nurse Lehi Einav, the emergency room nurse, realized that something was not normal.

The nurse felt that something was 'not normal'

"I felt that something was not happening with Moshe like in a 'normal' patient with abdominal pain, says nurse Leahy, "He started to turn pale, lowered his saturation and it looked like he was going to lose consciousness."

Lehi recognized that there was an emergency and immediately called the emergency room doctor Dr. Rabia Halon who examined and questioned Moshe. Dr. Halon realized that this was an unusual case and also called the senior doctor in charge of the emergency room, Dr. Mohammad Ganaim, for a consultation.

Dr. Halon says:

Moshe began to deteriorate before our eyes, we questioned him from all directions and did not find anything special, until suddenly he told us about a new fish he ate at noon, a fish he brought from the beach. We asked him if he happened to have a picture of the fish and he showed us the picture of the fish he took at the beach.

Real life danger

This is where Dr. Ganaim jumped in, who knew the abu nafha fish and realized that this was a life-threatening emergency. This is a very dangerous poison found in the flesh of the fish, a poison that causes muscle paralysis and is capable of paralyzing the respiratory muscles to the point of suffocation and death. 

The ER team contacted the hospital's toxicologist, Dr. Ofir Navon, who immediately instructed the team to prepare for an emergency situation, prepare a shock room, and prepare to transfer the patient urgently to the intensive care unit.

Moshe's condition continued to deteriorate rapidly, and the emergency team urgently transferred him to the shock room, where the medical teams began more intensive treatments to stabilize him, while preparing to transfer him to the intensive care unit.  

Leahy's quick identification and the bond between the teams

A key part in saving Moshe's life was the quick identification of nurse Lehi in the emergency room and the close relationship between the nursing staff and the doctors in the emergency room.

"When the red flags are raised and the warning lights come on, the excellent cooperation and the trust that prevails between the nursing and medical staff at the Medical Center are immediately apparent," explains Yifat Alon, director of nursing at the Carmel Medical Center. 

Alon continues: "Nurse Leahy's recognition that her patient was rapidly deteriorating, Dr. Halon's quick response to Leahy's call, and Dr. Ganaim's insistence that led to the discovery of the type of fish, are what saved Mr. Cohen's life. And of course, the wonderful and quick cooperation between between the ER and the intensive care department," concludes the director of nursing in the emergency department.

A dangerous attraction

The Abu Nafha fish from which Moshe ate is a fish from the Nefahite family, it is known in Japan as the fugo fish and is considered a delicacy. Over the years, the abu nafha fish have become a real attraction, due to their ability to grow up to two and three times their original size. However, there are dozens of species in this family, some of which are not at all familiar to humans, and in their normal state those fish would not seem particularly special or dangerous. This fact is also the source of danger from this fish. As part of its defense system, the body of the Abu Nafha also contains a deadly poison, tetrodotoxin, which anyone who comes into contact with may be in danger of life. There have already been quite a few times when people pulled a fish from the water without knowing it was such, ate from it and suffered a serious injury to the point of death.

After being transferred from the emergency department, Moshe was quickly transferred to the intensive care unit, where the professional team immediately began working on him to bring him back to life.

"The poison has already started to paralyze parts of his body"

Mira Shatrit, the director of nursing at the intensive care unit, says: "We received Moshe with a clear and orderly diagnosis from the emergency room, which made it easier for us to receive and treat him. Moshe came to us breathing and when the poison had already started to paralyze certain parts of his body. We immediately began intensive treatment with a professional medical team Adjacent to him 24/7". 

4 days in intensive care

Moshe was treated with devotion for 4 days in the intensive care unit in Carmel, when he was sedated and ventilated and at the end he began to respond to the treatment and recover, when the staff weaned him from the ventilator.

After recovering a little more, Moshe went up for further monitoring and treatment in the intensive care unit in the internal ward 1.

"The great team saved my life"

"I thank the wonderful team of Carmel for saving my life," says Moshe as he recovers and smiles in the ward. "There is an unusually dedicated team here, a team of professionals with a special soul and giving. I am already waiting to get back to routine, to return to my family and my sweet grandchildren.

What's certain," he added, "I will continue to walk by the seashore, but I will no longer touch fish I don't know, it's a real life risk." 

Muti Mendelsohn, the marine researcher, refers to the case:

Following the articles published in Hai Pa about the invasive species on our beaches, we have before us a sad result involving a lot of suffering and also, a real danger to life.

As I have already mentioned many times in the articles, there are new species and quite a few of them, which penetrated the shores of the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal, some are edible, some are definitely not edible and even dangerous. In this case it is the puffer fish, or its popular nickname "Abu Nafha". These fish are not suitable for human consumption, and even terrestrial animals will not touch this fish, because of the toxicity of its flesh.

More dangerous than Cyanid

Puffer fish contain a dangerous toxin that is known to be many times more dangerous than cyanide! Eating it can lead to death due to respiratory failure. Fortunately for that patient, he received timely supportive care and his life was saved.

There are some species that have entered us from the Red Sea that are definitely dangerous. Therefore, you should avoid eating a fish that is unfamiliar to us, even if there is little doubt about it. It should be remembered that what experts know how to identify, others do not always know, even if it is sport fishing. The flesh of the fish, which looks juicy, can be deadly.

Even in Japan, which is considered an authority on the preparation of pufferfish, mistakes often occur. To explain the ear, a few years ago a pair of sea otters almost died due to eating this fish, and a tragic case that occurred years ago in Israel, when a Ukrainian captain died as a result of eating such a fish.

Delicious and deadly

One of the problems is that sometimes the taste of the fish is excellent when eating, but the result, as mentioned... less so. Close to the tragic case of that Ukrainian captain, I really wanted to understand the attraction of this fish. For the sake of testing, I took such a fish after it was taken out of the sea and left on the beach in Achziv, and I fried it with all the spices, on top of a griller. I mainly fried and seasoned the liver of the fish, which in most cases of poisoning that occurred around the world, was the part that was eaten. The smell that came from it was amazing and appetizing. I did all this on the beach itself, and waited.

For many hours, no living creature touched the fish meat, and certainly did not taste it, which indicates the keen senses of nature's creatures, which warn them of danger. Of course, after the observation, the fish was packed and thrown in the trash.

We at Hai Pa will continue and report every intruder, also with your help, dear Hai Pa readers. Until then, completely avoid eating things you don't recognize, or even if you have any doubt about their nature.