A 19-year-old student had to have both of his legs and all 10 fingers amputated after eating leftover food from his fridge, which triggered a potentially fatal condition.
Bernard Hsu, a doctor and YouTube maker, presents the outcomes of a case from The New England Journal of Medicine in a YouTube video posted by Chubbyemu.
Doctors who amputated both legs and ten fingers of a student who ate leftover noodles warned of the hazards of sepsis and bacterial infection.
After the case was reported in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021, Dr Bernard Hsu, a physician in New York, discussed it on his YouTube channel.
While he did not aim to scare people into avoiding eating leftovers, he mentioned the “freak” occurrence in which a 19-year-old student underwent an emergency operation after being diagnosed with a possibly fatal bacterial infection.
The man from New England was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston 20 hours after becoming ill after eating leftover rice, chicken, and lo mein noodles from a nearby restaurant.
The man was in shock, with multiple organ failure and a severe rash, according to doctors in the hospital’s paediatric intensive care unit.
He was later diagnosed with neisseria meningitidis, also known as meningococcal illness, which was responsible for his stiff neck, nausea, respiratory collapse, shock, and multiple organ failure.
The condition is caused by bacteria and typically causes symptoms such as a high fever and vomiting, and it can be fatal in a matter of hours.
Although eating leftover food is unlikely to result in such a severe reaction in most situations, bacteria can quickly grow on leftover food when stored at room temperature.
In this case, the patient did not obtain the necessary booster meningococcal vaccine, leaving him vulnerable to a “perfect storm” of infection.
Necrosis of his arms and legs, as well as gangrene, resulted in amputations of sections of all ten fingers, as well as below-knee amputations.
According to the journal, the patient recovered pretty well from a severe and acute case of meningococcal purpura fulminans.
What is sepsis?
An existing infection sets off a chain reaction throughout the body that can quickly escalate into a life-threatening emergency.
Infections typically begin in the lungs, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal system.
It can also be caused by viral infections such as Covid-19 or influenza.
What are the signs and symptoms?
Commonly reported signs of sepsis are elevated heart rate, extreme pain or discomfort, breathlessness, confusion, shivering and clammy or sweaty skin.
Is sepsis contagious?
Although it cannot be passed on to others, an infection that caused sepsis could be passed on to others.
Who is at risk?
People over the age of 65, those with compromised immune systems, and anyone with a chronic health condition or sickness such as diabetes, lung and renal disease, or cancer are especially vulnerable.
Those who have recently recovered from a serious illness are also at a higher risk, and babies under a year old are more prone to get sepsis.
What should I do If I think I have symptoms?
Sepsis is a medical emergency that necessitates quick diagnosis and treatment.
If your symptoms do not improve, see a doctor or go to the hospital as soon as possible.
Rapid detection and treatment can substantially improve odds of survival.
