Annie Walton Doyle
A 19-year-old college student suffered a severe medical issue which led to the amputation of his limbs, after consuming leftover Chinese takeout.
This tragic case was described by Dr. Bernard Hsu, a licensed toxicologist, as the result of a ‘perfect storm’ of unfortunate circumstances.
People have been left horrified by this story, with one penning: “I can only imagine the psychological distress when he came out of his coma to find his legs and other bits gone. Mother of god.”
“A man loses his limbs all because he ate bad leftovers? That’s the most unfair thing to happen in someone’s life I’ve ever heard. Simply tragic,” another adds.
A third writes: “If he thought an ambulance was too expensive, I can’t imagine how he felt about getting the bill for the helicopter transfer.”
“Man, this kind of accident is so tragic. The dude just wanted lunch and lost limbs and got trauma. I hope he’s doing better now,” a fourth agrees.
Dr. Hsu, though not involved in treating the patient, explained the details of the case in a YouTube video.
According to Hsu, the young man became critically ill after eating contaminated leftovers that included lo mein, chicken, and rice.
“This was a freak accident happening in a perfect storm sequence of events,” Hsu said in the video.
The student’s case first appeared in the now-deleted March 2021 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, per the New York Post, where it was documented that the teen had been admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital.
At the time of his admission, he was suffering from a series of life-threatening conditions, including ‘shock, multiple organ failure, skin mottling, and a rapidly progressive reticular rash.’
According to the journal, the student had been healthy until about 20 hours before his hospital admission.
His symptoms started after he consumed the leftover Chinese meal.
The report stated: “The patient had been well until 20 hours before this admission when diffuse abdominal pain and nausea developed after he ate rice, chicken, and lo mein leftovers from a restaurant meal.”
Following the initial symptoms of abdominal pain and nausea, the student began vomiting, with some vomit described as bilious or red-brown.
His condition quickly worsened, with chills, weakness, muscle pain, chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, neck stiffness, and blurry vision developing shortly after.
The New England Journal of Medicine detailed the young man’s alarming vital signs at the time of his hospitalization: his body temperature had reached over 105 degrees Fahrenheit, his heart rate was 166 beats per minute, and his respiratory rate was 28 breaths per minute.
Additionally, he developed a ‘diffuse reticular purpuric rash’ covering his body, including his face, chest, abdomen, back, arms, and legs, although it spared his palms and soles.
After conducting blood and urine tests, doctors diagnosed the student with a bacterial infection known as Neisseria meningitidis.
This infection led to blood clotting issues and liver failure. The skin necrosis he experienced was attributed to ‘purpura fulminans,’ a severe complication arising from meningococcal septicemia.
Dr. Bernard noted in his video that this was extremely rare.
While Neisseria meningitidis usually spreads through saliva, how it ended up in the leftover food remains unclear.
JC’s case demonstrates how severe bacterial infections can arise from unexpected sources.
Interestingly, JC was generally healthy, with no known allergies.
He had received his childhood vaccinations, including the first dose of the meningococcal vaccine, but he had not completed the recommended booster shot, which is usually administered during adolescence.
His lifestyle, including smoking two packs of cigarettes weekly and daily marijuana use, was also detailed in the report, though it is unclear if these factors contributed to the severity of his illness.
It was also discovered that the teen had only received one of the three recommended doses of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine and had not completed the CDC-recommended two or three doses of the serogroup B meningococcal vaccine, according to Newsweek.
Despite undergoing amputations of his legs below the knees and parts of his fingers, the young man eventually made a ‘relatively good recovery.’
His case has garnered renewed attention thanks to Dr. Hsu’s video on his YouTube channel “Chubbyemu,” which has over 2.46 million subscribers. The video has been viewed more than 1 million times.
To prevent foodborne illnesses, health experts, including those from WebMD, advise refrigerating leftover food within two hours of it being removed from heat.
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