Oral intake of a widely available gastrointestinal OTC medicine ‘Seirogan’ is effective for gastric anisakiasis (Anisakis food poisoning)

Abstract

Gastric food poisoning due to anisakid nematodes (gastric anisakiasis) is characterized by severe stomach pain caused by the consumption of raw fish that harbors anisakid nematodes. The only effective treatment that is currently available is the endoscopic removal of nematodes penetrating the stomach wall. An in vitro study showed that the widely available over-the-counter (OTC) gastrointestinal medicine 'Seirogan' containing wood creosote kills Anisakis larvae. In addition, two cases in which the oral intake of Seirogan alleviated gastric anisakiasis symptoms have been reported. Herein, we analyzed 56 statements regarding Seirogan's efficacy against gastric anisakiasis posted on social networking sites (SNSs) in Japan. There were 33 statements (59%) that Seirogan was effective in significantly alleviating or eliminating symptoms of gastric anisakiasis, 13 comments (23%) stating that it had a slight effect, and 10 comments (18%) stating that there was no effect. These results indicate that in many cases, an oral intake of Seirogan is effective as first aid to remove or alleviate severe stomach pain due to gastric anisakiasis.