A man who was admitted to hospital following complaints of excessive vomiting and severe abdominal pain after eating hot chillies has been diagnosed with a two-and-a-half centimetre hole burnt in his oesophagus, said the doctors who treated him.
The 47-year-old American had reportedly eaten a handburger filled with ghost pepper puree as part of an eating contest. He was forced to undergo an emergency surgery and spent nearly a month in the hospital.
The ghost pepper, also known as Bhut Jolokia, is one of the world's hottest chilli peppers and is said to be spicier than habanero pepper and Cayenne pepper.
According to the Journal of Emergency Medicine, the medical condition is known as Boerhaave syndrome and is accompanied by excessive vomiting and severe pain. It also has a high mortality rate among the patients.
Ghost pepper is a hybrid of Capsicum chinense and Capsicum frutescens and is grown mainly in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur.
Here are top 10 facts you need to know about this extremely spicy chili peppers:
1. Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper in 2007. It is said 400 times hotter than Tabasco sauce.
2. According to Wikipedia, the ghost chili is rated at more than 1 million Scoville heat units (SHUs). However, the Ghost chili was shortly superseded by the Infinity chili in 2011, followed by the Naga Viper, the Trinidad moruga scorpion in 2012, and the Carolina Reaper on August 7, 2013.
3. The name bhut jolokia is probably named after the ferocious Naga warriors inhabiting the plains and hills of Nagaland, India.
4. The heat of these chillis is dependent on the climate they are grown in. A 2005 study showed the peppers grown that are grown in in Tezpur (Assam, India) are twice as hot as those grown in other places of the country.
5. The chillies can be of different colours ranging from red, yellow, orange, or chocolate brown colour.
6. These chillies are good for treating summer heat.
7. In 2009, scientists at India's Defence Research and Development Organisation announced plans to use the peppers in hand grenades.
8. The chillies area also likely to be developed into pepper spray as a self-defence and antirape product.
9. In August 2015, the Indian Army successfully used the grenades made from Bhut jolokia to flush out terrorist Sajjad Ahmed, who was hiding in a cave.
10. The peppers are smeared on fences or incorporated in smoke bombs as a safety precaution to keep wild elephants at a distance.
