Man loses legs, fingers after eating leftover noodles

• Man experiences stomach ache, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, headache, and blurry vision, after eating meal.
• Man's skin also started turning purplish in colour after which he had to be shifted to Massachusetts General Hospital. 
• Doctors had to amputate both of his legs below the knees and different parts of his fingers.

While eating leftover food would usually lead to an upset stomach or short-term illness, a teenager in New England had a life-altering experience after he ate leftover noodles and lost his fingers and legs.

According to a report by People, the 19-year-old man's case was documented in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2021 but has recently gone viral after it was fictionally portrayed in a YouTube video. 

The findings of the NEJM report showed that the man consumed a leftover lo mein noodle meal, along with chicken and rice, at a restaurant. He was fine for the next 20 hours after eating the meal but started developing food-poisoning symptoms, including stomach ache, nausea, and vomiting. 

He also started experiencing pain in his chest, shortness of breath, and blurry vision. 

"Multiple episodes of emesis occurred, with vomitus that was either bilious or red-brown. The abdominal pain and vomiting were followed by the development of chills, generalised weakness, progressively worsening diffuse myalgias, chest pain, shortness of breath, headache, neck stiffness, and blurry vision," the NEJM report said, according to People.

Aside from the aforementioned symptoms, the man's skin also started turning purplish in colour after which he had to be shifted to the pediatric intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. 

Doctors at the hospital provided treatment for shock, organ failure, skin mottling, and a "rapidly progressive reticular rash."

Following his deteriorating health condition, doctors had to amputate both of his legs below the knees and different parts of his fingers, the publication said.

The NEJM report further stated that one of the man's friends had the same meal from the restaurant with him but he did not get sick.

"The hospitalised man had only received one of three doses of meningococcal conjugate vaccine without a booster, and had also only had one dose of the serogroup B meningococcal vaccine out of two or three doses recommended by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention," People said, citing Newsweek.

As per WebMD, food should be immediately kept in the refrigerator so that the growth of bacteria could be prevented otherwise it could lead to food poisoning.