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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Kirsty Card & Graeme Murray

Student loses legs after eating friend's leftover takeaway and developing deadly sepsis

A student who lost lost his legs after eating his friend's takeaway developed deadly sepsis.

The man, who was only identified as JC ate the takeaway, a chicken noodle dish his friend had ordered the night before.

But he immediately became ill, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

He had a severely high temperature with a heart rate of 166 beats per minute when he was taken to hospital and sedated.

The young man had no allergies and had all his childhood vaccinations according to doctors' records.

He rarely drank alcohol, the Journal said, smoked two packs of cigarettes a week and marijuana every day.

'JC' had to have limbs amputated after developing sepsis (Chubbyemu / YouTube)

The Daily Star reports his condition worsened and he had to be airlifted to another hospital by helicopter for further treatment.

The report in the Journal said: “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."

The NEJM said JC worked part-time at a restaurant and had not travelled recently or had any other exposure to animals or ill people.

The student ate the chicken and noodle dish from the previous night and immediately started to feel ill (Chubbyemu / YouTube)

It reported his dad had coronary artery disease and his brother had suffered viral meningitis when he was six weeks old.

The Journal said: "The abdominal pain and vomiting were followed by the development of chills, generalized weakness, progressively worsening diffuse myalgias, chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, neck stiffness, and blurry vision.

"Five hours before this admission, purplish discolouration of the skin developed and a friend took the patient to the emergency department of another hospital for evaluation.

"It was confirmed he was suffering from an aggressive bacterial infection that made his kidneys fail and his blood began to clot."

The patient was so ill he was taken to the intensive care unit of another hospital by a helicopter for further treatment (New England Journal of Medicine)

The bacteria in his blood results came back positive for Neisseria meningitidis which is a form of sepsis which can kill sufferers.

It's believed he became infected by the bacteria through his saliva and he had missed a booster jab for the meningococcal vaccine which he was meant to get at the age of 16.

The tissue on his fingers developed gangrene, as did his legs down to his feet resulting in the amputations of parts of all of his fingers and below-knee amputations.

The incident has since been branded a "freak accident" by YouTube doctor, Dr Bernard and thankfully, the student survived the ordeal.

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