Stink-eggs botulism puts three in hospital

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Three people were hospitalized on life support with botulism after eating fermented salmon roe, a traditional British Columbia Indian delicacy also known as stink eggs.

The roe came from two batches in two B.C. communities, Kitimaat Village, south of Terrace, and Atlin, near the B.C.-Yukon boundary.

A fourth person, a woman from Whitehorse in the Yukon, was treated and released last week.

A 72-year-old woman from Kitimaat Village remained in critical condition, her son in stable condition. A third woman was in an intensive-care unit but listed in stable condition.

Greg Smith, acting executive director of the Kitimaat Village Council, said Frances Amos, who prepared the eggs there, was one of the women stricken. Smith said Amos had been making stink eggs for years without any trouble.

The eggs are mostly eaten by elders because younger people often can't stand the odor, he said, calling it "an odor that gets people running."

The B.C. Center for Disease Control is now warning Indians not to eat fermented roe. Dr. David Patrick, the center's director of epidemiology, said he issued the warning because it's unusual to have four cases in a week.

Botulism toxin is so potent that "billionths of a gram is enough to flatten a human," he said.

Patrick said most cases of botulism poisoning in British Columbia are connected to stink eggs. The deadly paralyzing toxin is produced by micro-organisms that grown in airless conditions.

Stink eggs are made by soaking salmon-roe egg sacs in saltwater for hours, rinsing them many times, then pressing them into glass jars and covering them with cheesecloth to ferment for a few days.

The fermented roe, which could be compared to blue cheese, is eaten with dried fish or fried potatoes.

Patrick suggested that curing or sun-drying the fish eggs could reduce the risk.