50-Year-Old Woman Eats Watermelon Left In Fridge For 2 Days, Gets Severe Bacterial Infection
In an attempt to minimise wastage, many of us have the habit of storing our leftover food in the fridge and saving it for another day. But this story that you’re about to read might very well give you second thoughts about it.
A 50-year-old woman from the city of Wuhan almost passed away after consuming watermelon placed overnight in the fridge.
For illustration purposes
Source
Woman stores watermelon in fridge after eating a slice
According to Malaysian Chinese publication Sin Chew Daily, the middle-aged lady recently bought a whole watermelon, ate a piece of it, and placed the remainder of the fruit in her refrigerator.
For illustration purposes
Source
2 days later, the woman decided to ‘revisit’ the watermelon and finished the rest of the fruit.
Condition almost turned fatal
But no one would have expected what came next.
Not long after finishing the fruit, the woman starting having chills and a fever.
The symptoms worsened the next day and she was rushed to the hospital.
Examinations later discovered that she had developed “shock blood pressure“, and the bacterial count in her body was a thousand times higher than normal.
Sin Chew Daily reported that her condition at that time could turn fatal anytime if the bacteria in the intestine spilled into her bloodstream, potentially causing sepsis and septic shock — both life-threatening conditions.
Thankfully, her condition was brought under control thanks to the doctors’ hard work.
A professor from the China Agricultural University pointed out 2 possible causes behind the bacterial growth:
- Overly warm temperature in the fridge
- Dirty condition of fridge
70-year-old man got intestine amputated after eating watermelon
Turns out, the 50-year-old isn’t the only one who had gone through such a predicament.
Just yesterday, Lianhe Zaobao reported a 70-year-old from Hunan province experienced abdominal pain after eating watermelon left in the fridge for just 2 hours.
At the hospital, examinations reportedly found that his small intestine was congested and was showing signs of hematoma – bleeding outside of blood vessles – and necrosis, which is death of cells in an organ or tissue.
In the end, doctors had no choice but to amputate the affected areas.
Make sure fridge is sufficiently cool
While we’re glad that both patients survived the watermelon-induced ordeals, we hope this serves as a warning for others to be careful next time they consume food stored in the fridge.
Most importantly, make sure the refrigerator is sufficiently cool and clean to reduce the chance of bacteria growth.
Minimising food wastage is important, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of your health.
Featured image adapted from Sohu and is for illustration purposes only.
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