Multiple organ failure due to eating pig's blood pudding

After eating pig blood pudding at a restaurant, half a day later, the patient fell into a coma, unresponsive to calls, and had cyanosis all over his body.

A 27-year-old male patient was transferred from Bac Ninh General Hospital to the Intensive Care Unit, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases in a sedated and ventilator-assisted state. Hemorrhagic necrosis was scattered all over the body, concentrated in many areas of the face and extremities.

According to the patient’s family, 4 days before being admitted to the hospital, the patient ate pig’s blood pudding at a restaurant. After returning home, the patient felt tired and had body aches.

Illustration photo.

At night, the patient developed chills and fever with unknown temperature. The next morning, the patient was found in a coma, unresponsive to calls, and cyanotic all over.

The patient was intubated and placed on a ventilator and transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases for treatment. At the Intensive Care Unit, the patient was diagnosed with bacteremia-meningitis due to Streptococcus suis.

Currently, the patient is being actively treated for complications of multiple organ failure, severe blood clotting disorder, and is receiving continuous blood filtration and blood product transfusion.

Dr. Pham Van Phuc, Deputy Head of the Intensive Care Unit, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, shared that in some places, people still believe that eating blood pudding at the beginning of the month (red in color) brings good luck. This is not true, because it can be harmful to human health.

Usually sold in restaurants, blood pudding is made from fresh animal blood. This is one of the main reasons why many patients are infected with worms.

If you eat blood pudding from a sick pig, you run the risk of getting streptococcus suis, digestive diseases, etc. This 27-year-old man also made the same mistake.

Previously, on August 3, information from the Medical Center of Quang Xuong district, Thanh Hoa province confirmed that one person had died from eating pig blood pudding leading to streptococcus suis infection.

Doctor Phuc said that Streptoccocus suis is the causative agent of diseases (pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis, arthritis in pigs).

However, the bacteria can reside in the upper respiratory tract (nose, throat), genital tract and digestive tract of healthy pigs.

Streptococcus suis bacteria are transmitted from pigs to humans through direct contact with infected pigs (healthy or sick pigs) through small wounds or scratches on the skin during pig slaughter, pork processing, or eating raw blood pudding or undercooked pork. The incubation period is short, from a few hours to 2-3 days (however, in some cases, the incubation period can be up to several weeks).

People with meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis if diagnosed and treated late will have serious consequences such as permanent deafness in one or both sides, not recovering.

Some patients require long-term treatment, with many relapses. Despite treatment, the overall mortality rate for all forms of the disease is 17%. In cases where the patient has symptoms of septic shock, the mortality rate is very high, up to 60-80%.

Therefore, to prevent swine streptococcus disease, Dr. Phuc recommends that people should choose to buy pork that has been inspected by veterinary agencies. Avoid buying pork with unusual red color, bleeding or edema. When eating, cooking pork is very important (the World Health Organization - WHO recommends above 70 degrees Celsius).

It is especially important that people do not eat dead pigs or raw foods, especially pig blood pudding. People with open wounds must wear gloves when handling raw or rare pork.

Keep processing equipment in a clean place, wash hands and processing equipment after contact with and processing pork. Use separate equipment for processing raw and cooked meat.