published
A college student in the US suffered blood poisoning following eating the leftovers from last night’s dinner. In the end, the 19-year-old had to have parts of his fingers and legs amputated.
Although the patient’s condition stabilized, gangrene developed on the fingers and legs to the feet.
New England Journal of Medicine
He had to have parts of all ten fingers amputated, as well as both legs below the knees.
New England Journal of Medicine
It’s actually a normal process: you order from an Asian restaurant, but you can’t eat everything. So the rest goes in the fridge for lunch the next day. A 19-year-old student from the USA did the same thing. He ate the leftovers his roommate had left over from the chicken noodles the night before. He had no idea what the consequences would be. Abdominal pain, vomiting, chills, general weakness, chest pain, shortness of breath, stiff neck and impaired vision. To make matters worse, his skin turned purple: the sure sign of blood poisoning (sepsis). Eventually a friend took him to the hospital.
The 19-year-old man was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) at Massachusetts General Hospital with “shock, multiple organ failure and rash,” according to a March 2021 issue of The New England Journal. He was so ill that he had to be helicoptered to another hospital’s intensive care unit for further treatment. He had no known allergies, had been vaccinated in childhood, and was not a heavy drinker.
The Chubbyemu YouTube channel, run by Dr. Bernard Hsu, a toxicologist, released on February 17 a video of the case. It has since been viewed over a million times. In the video, Dr. Bernhard that the severe symptoms suffered by the patient (named JC in the video) were likely due to an aggressive bacterial infection.
Diagnose: Neisseria meningitidis
Blood tests showed that his blood contained the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (meningococci). “When there are bacteria in the blood, the blood vessels throughout the body dilate, which causes blood pressure to drop and the organs can no longer be supplied with oxygen,” explains Dr. Bernard, “little clots are forming everywhere and they get stuck in small blood vessels and block the flow of blood.” If hands and feet get cold, the skin tissue is no longer supplied with blood, he explains, the skin turns purple, begins to rot and dies.
Although the patient’s condition stabilized, gangrene developed on the fingers and legs to the feet. He had to have parts of all ten fingers amputated, as well as both legs below the knees. 26 days later, the patient regained consciousness – and his life was changed forever. It turned out that the 19-year-old had received his first meningococcal vaccination but did not get the recommended booster shot four years later. He might have saved himself the ordeal.
Meningococci are transmitted exclusively from person to person by droplet infection, for example when coughing or sneezing. His roommate had thrown up following eating some of it the night before, something the 19-year-old was unaware of. Sepsis is a life-threatening response to infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts to infection and begins damaging the body’s tissues and organs. It might not be clarified how the bacteria got into the food.
(The essential/sp)
