Bangkok: Experts have revealed that a Thai dish made with undercooked fish is causing deadly liver cancer.

Koi Pla (grinded raw fish eaten with spices and lemon), a local dish in Thailand’s northeastern province of Isan, is responsible for 20,000 deaths a year in the country.

There is no specific ingredient in the dish that causes this deadly disease, rather the disease is caused by parasitic worms that sometimes live inside the raw fish consumed.

Parasites occur naturally in freshwater fish in the Mekong region, and Isan province has the highest rate of bile duct cancer in the world due to high consumption of raw fish.

A doctor from the region, Narong Khintikeo, has been spreading awareness among the people since he lost his parents to the disease.

According to liver surgeon Narung, this is a major health problem in the region. But no one knows about it because they die silently like leaves fall from trees.

Narung formed a team of scientists, doctors and anthropologists who tested people in the Isan area for parasites with ultrasound machines and urine testing kits.

Tests showed that as many as 80 percent of people in some communities had eaten the parasite. While one-third of people had abnormal symptoms in the liver and four people were found to have cancer.