The first case of Haff disease was reported in 1924 in the vicinity of Königsberg on the Baltic coast, in people staying around the haff; hence the name “Haff disease”. From 1925 to 1940, about 1000 cases were reported not only in humans, but in birds and cats as well. These cases were linked to the consumption of fish (burbot, eel, and pike). Only twenty-six cases of Haff disease were reported in the US from 1984 to 2014.^[1]  As the standards of living are improving, the availability of fish for consumption is increasing, and thus, resulting in an increased number of cases.  

• It was first described in 1924 in the vicinity of Königsberg on the Baltic coast, in people staying around the haff (German: lagoon).^[2]

• Over the subsequent fifteen years, about 1000 cases were reported in people, birds, and cats, usually in the summer and fall. A link was made with the consumption of fish (burbot, eel and pike). Since that time, only occasional reports have appeared of the condition, mostly from the Soviet Union and Germany.

• In 1997, six cases of Haff disease were reported in California and Missouri, all after the consumption of buffalo fish (Ictiobus cyprinellus).^[3] The source of the fish was traced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Studies of other fish from the same sources showed a hexane-soluble (and hence non-polar lipid) substance that induced similar symptoms in mice; other food-borne poisons commonly found in fish could not be detected.