(WHDH) — A 19-year-old New England man went into shock, suffered multiple organ failure, and developed a rash that spread all over his body after eating tainted Chinese takeout food leftovers, doctors said.
The resident of northern New England was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit at a Massachusetts hospital in March 2021 when he started vomiting and complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, neck stiffness, and blurry vision, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
The symptoms developed about 20 hours after the man ate rice, chicken, and lo mein leftovers from a restaurant meal, according to doctors, and purplish discoloration of the skin had also developed about five hours before admission.
Testing then revealed that the part-time restaurant worker was running a temperature over 105 degrees, with a heart rate of 166 beats per minute and a low respiratory rate of 28 breaths per minute, doctors noted.
Following additional testing and examination, the man was diagnosed with a bacterial infection known as Neisseria meningitidis, according to a video presentation of the case.
The man’s skin necrosis was said to be caused by purpura fulminans. Gangrene developed on his fingers, legs, and feet, forcing doctors to amputate.
Doctors reportedly later discovered that the man had received the first dose of the meningococcal vaccine prior to middle school but not the booster dose that is recommended four years later.
A roommate who had eaten the same meal as the man the evening before admission had vomited once but never became progressively ill.
“Evidence appears to point to the food being bad and that is a freak accident. We’ll never know what happened to it to have Neisseria meningitidis on it,” the narrator of the video stated. “It made his roommate throw it back up. His roommate was up to date on his vaccination schedule. This bacteria doesn’t just materialize out of nowhere.”
The man’s organ function didn’t begin to return to normal until about a month later. He isn’t critically ill anymore but he is said to have permanent changes to his body.
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