PHNOM PENHgamesonblockchain, July 6 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's Ministry of Health issued a statement on Saturday, reminding people not to eat pufferfish after seven people have been hospitalized in central Kampong Chhnang province this week.

"The seven people, after eating pufferfish, had severe symptoms that required emergency medical treatment, and after receiving intensive care from a team of our doctors, currently, the patients are recovering," the statement said.

"The Ministry of Health would like to remind people to avoid eating pufferfish because it contains a poison that can cause severe illness or death," the statement added.

According to the statement, five species of poisonous pufferfish in the Southeast Asian country are redeye puffer or Carinotetraodon Lorteti, eyespot pufferfish or Tetraodon Biocellatus, spotted green pufferfish or Tetraodon Nigroviridis, green pufferfish or Tetraodon Fluviatilis, and Monotrete Cochinchinensis.

The symptoms that occur 20 minutes to two hours after eating these poisonous pufferfish include numbness, tingling around the mouth and in the limbs, headache, dizziness, salivation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, the statement said.

The symptoms may progress to paralysis, loss of consciousness, and respiratory failure that can lead to death, it added.■