Eating left over food can be very unhealthy and that has been proved by a recent incident wherein a New England teen lost his fingers and legs due to infection triggered by eating leftover takeaway noodles stored in fridge. An YouTube video of the incident has been shared by doctor and content creator Chubbyemu, Bernard Hsu, who has detailed the results of the dangerous case first reported in March last year.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine the young teenage boy identified as JC consumed his friend's leftover chicken, noodles and rice from the refrigerator after which he fell sick. Soon his skin color started to change and he was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
However, doctors found that he had over 105 F high fever with a heart rate of 166bpm apart from multiple organ failure. Doctors in the hospital said that they observed that small spots were emerging all over the teens body.
Initially they looked like bruises, but, they eventually turned deep reddish-brown, according to the reports. After several tests, the New England teen was diagnosed with Neisseria meningitidis.
What is Neisseria meningitidis?
Neisseria meningitidis is a bacteria that causes the Meningococcal disease. This bacteria often infect the spinal cord and brain's lining with symptoms like swelling a stiff neck, photophobia, altered mental status, and joint pain, among others.
The disease often caused by bacteria and viruses primarily affects children and teenagers. Skin infection, respiratory tract infection, and gastrointestinal tract infection are often observed in those infected by Neisseria meningitidis. This can be life-threatening as the Bacteria has the potential to attack the nervous system.
Vaccine for this infection is available. But, in JC's case, doctors learned that he had taken only the first dose of the meningococcal vaccine before middle school and did not get the recommended booster dose of the vaccine. Due to severe infection, JC suffered from purple skin rash, bacterial infection in the bloodstream leading to a medical emergency.
So, doctors amputated the teen's fingers and legs below the knees as necrosis were detected in his arms, legs and gangrene.
