Boston,
Massachusetts,
United States
19-year-old teen diagnosed with a severe bacterial infection after consuming leftover noodles that were not stored properly. The infection resulted in skin necrosis and resulted in amputation of the patients legs and parts of fingers.
According to the paper presented to the New England Journal of Medicine, the teen developed abdominal pain and nausea after he ate rice, chicken, and lo mein leftovers from a previous meal. This later progressed to myalgias, chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, neck stiffness, and blurry vision. At this point, he is admitted to the hospital, presenting multiple organ failure and septic shock.
He was later diagnosed with Infectious Purpura Fulminans, a rapidly evolving syndrome of skin microvascular thrombosis and hemorrhagic necrosis (which can be understood as the skin and tissue dying) which the doctors suspected was triggered by meningococcal disease. This necrosis affected his arms and legs, which led to amputations of parts of all 10 fingers and bilateral below-knee amputations.
Doctors found out that the meal was shared with a friend who vomited once shortly thereafter but did not become ill. During the hospitalization, doctors learned that he had received only one dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine, without the recommended booster.
The CDC warns that a variety of foods, particularly rice and leftovers, sauces, soups, and other prepared foods sitting out too long at room temperature can lead to the appearance of bacteria.
Source:
www.nejm.org | Symptoms: Nausea, Stomach Pain, Chest Pain, Blurry vision, Skin Rash, Shortness of Breath