Dangers of eating leftovers: 19-yr-old student's horrific leg amputation sparks concern
A college student tragically lost his legs and fingers after eating leftover Chinese takeout food and developing sepsis. Dr Bernard Hsu, a licensed toxicologist, decribed how the 19-year-old became ill after he ate tainted leftovers at a Chinese restaurant, including lo mein, chicken and rice. Hsu, however, is not a doctor who treated the teen.
“This was a freak accident happening in a perfect storm sequence of events,” Hsu said in a YouTube video on February 16. The case was first reported in March 2021 in the New England Journal of Medicine, which stated that he was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital after suffering from “shock, multiple organ failure, skin mottling, and a rapidly progressive reticular rash.”
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What happened to the student?
"4.5 hours before this admission, the patient reported diffuse myalgias that he rated at 8 on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 indicating the most severe pain. On examination, he appeared pale, anxious, and moderately distressed; he answered questions appropriately and was oriented to person, place, time, and situation," the outlet said. "The temperature was 37.4°C, the pulse 147 beats per minute, the blood pressure 154/124 mm Hg, the respiratory rate 24 breaths per minute, and the oxygen saturation 97% while he was breathing ambient air. The oral mucous membranes were dry. On auscultation of the heart, tachycardia was present with a regular rhythm. The radial pulses were normal. The lungs were clear, without crackles, rhonchi, or wheezes. The abdomen was soft and non-distended, without tenderness; the patient vomited yellow-green material during the examination. The skin was warm and dry and had a mottled appearance."
The patient lived in northern New England with his mother and brother. However, he had been staying with a friend five days before he was admitted to the hospital. He worked part-time at a restaurant. "On the patient’s admission to this hospital, additional history was obtained from family members. A friend who had eaten the same meal as the patient the evening before admission had vomited once shortly thereafter but had not become progressively ill."
Doctors found that he had only received one of three doses of a meningococcal conjugate vaccine without a booster. He had received only one dose of a serogroup B meningococcal vaccine, although the CDC recommended two or three, Newsweek reported. The man reportedly went on to have a “relatively good recovery" after all of his fingers were amputated, along with his legs below his knees. Hsu’s video posted on his YouTube channel called “Chubbyemu" brought renewed attention to the case. In the video, the teen is identified only as "JC".
The dangers of eating leftover food
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for three to four days. Frozen food, on the other hand, can be kept for three months. Bacteria can quickly grow on leftover food, especially when stored at room temperature, when food is cooked or ordered and is not consumed at the same time, there are chances of risk of overload of bacteria and other micro-organisms. Although the effects of eating leftovers are not always as horrifying as the case discussed here, it could lead to several illnesses. Eating leftover food can cause digestive problems due to the growth of bacteria. It can cause food poisoning, acidity and diarrhea, which leads to vomiting and sickness, and can even cause dehydration. In the case of the 19-year-old, he was later diagnosed with neisseria meningitides, also called meningococcal disease, which caused his stiff neck, nausea, respiratory collapse, shock, and multiple organ failure. This disease is caused by bacteria and usually causes sudden fever and vomiting. It can turn lethal in only a few hours. Necrosis of his arms and legs and gangrene led to the amputations. The sequence of horrifying events in the teen's case caused sepsis. However, people over the age of 65, especially those with weakened immunity, are usually more at risk. People with chronic health conditions like diabetes, lung and kidney disease or cancer are extremely vulnerable. Sepsis can also be contracted by people recovering from a recent serious illness, and also by babies less than a year old.