Man Dies After Cooking and Eating Highly Poisonous Pufferfish

A Brazilian man tragically died after he cooked and ate a remarkably venomous pufferfish given to him as a gift. 46-year-old Magno Sergio Gomes, of Aracruz, Espirito Santa, died 35 days after consuming the fish, which contained enough venom to kill 30 human adults. His sister, Myrian Lopes, spoke to newswire service Newsflash (via The Mirror and The New York Post).

It’s unknown where the fish came from, but Brazil is home to more than 20 species of pufferfish. A dozen of them reside in Espirito Santa alone. Gomes noted that her brother had never cleaned pufferfish before.

About 45 minutes after eating, "Magno started to feel numb in his mouth,” Lopes recounted. “Then he went with his wife to the hospital, driving his car. When he got there, his mouth was even more numb, and he felt sick. Soon after, he had a cardiac arrest that lasted eight minutes.”

Magno fell into a coma, suffering several seizures in the next three days. He hung on for 35 days before he ultimately passed away. "The doctors told our family that he died from poisoning, which had quickly traveled to his head," Lopes said. She reported the seizures had "greatly affected his brain, leaving little chance of recovery.”

Gomes’ friend was similarly incapacitated after the meal, but he miraculously survived. Despite being released from the hospital, Lopes says he’s still regaining all of his functions. “With his legs, he's not walking very well. He was neurologically impacted, but he is recovering," she said.

Pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, which can be up to 1,200 times as poisonous as cyanide for humans, according to National Geographic. Maritime expert Joao Luiz Gasparini told Brazilian media that their venom can cause “cardiorespiratory arrest when ingested in large quantities."

In 2019, five people died and another 10 were hospitalized after eating pufferfish they had caught from a local pond.