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ABSTRACT: We report a case of oral stings by spermatophores of the squid Todarodes pacificus. A 63-yr-old Korean woman experienced severe pain in her oral cavity immediately after eating a portion of parboiled squid along with its internal organs. She did not swallow the portion, but spat it out immediately. She complained of a pricking and foreign-body sensation in the oral cavity. Twelve small, white spindle-shaped, bug-like organisms stuck in the mucous membrane of the tongue, cheek, and gingiva were completely removed, along with the affected mucosa. On the basis of their morphology and the presence of the sperm bag, the foreign bodies were identified as squid spermatophores.
Large quantities of the squid Todarodes pacificus (belonging to Ommastrephidae) are caught off the eastern coast of Korea. In 2009, about 190,000 tons of squid were caught off the Korean Peninsula (Korea Fisheries Association, 2010). In Korea, squid are a popular seafood that are usually eaten raw. In the present study, we report a case of penetration of the oral mucosa by sperm bags of Todarodes pacificus. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of oral stings resulting from eating undercooked squid in Korea.
A healthy 63-yr-old Korean woman, who was living in Seoul, was admitted to the emergency department of a hospital in February 2008. On history taking, we found that she had parboiled a whole live squid for a few seconds in boiling water and cut its body, together with the internal organs, into small pieces in order to check its taste. As soon as she put a piece into her mouth, she felt like many ''bugs'' were biting her oral mucosa. She experienced severe sharp pain and spat out the entire portion without swallowing. Despite that, she could feel many small squirming white bug-like organisms penetrating her oral mucosa. She visited the nearest emergency facility, and brought along the lump of squid that she had spat out. Twelve, small, spindle-shaped white organisms, 2-5 mm in length, were found stuck to the mucosa of her tongue, cheek, and gingiva (Fig. 1). Because the organisms were still moving during the examination, the physicians initially thought that they were squid parasites and removed them surgically, along with the surrounding affected mucosa (Fig....