The 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-dependent 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. At night, the patient developed chills and fever with unknown temperature.
On the morning of admission, the patient's family discovered him in a coma, unresponsive, and cyanotic. 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: Sepsis - Meningitis due to Streptococcus suis. The patient is currently receiving intensive treatment for complications of multiple organ failure, severe blood clotting disorder, continuous blood filtration, and blood product transfusion.
MSc. Dr. Pham Van Phuc, Deputy Head of the Intensive Care Unit, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, shared: In some places, people still believe that eating blood pudding at the beginning of the month (red in color) brings good luck. Usually, in restaurants, blood pudding is taken from fresh animal blood. This is one of the main reasons why many patients are infected with worms. If eating blood pudding from a sick pig, the person eating it is at risk of getting streptococcus suis, gastrointestinal diseases, etc. This 27-year-old man also made the same mistake.
Streptococcus suis bacteria are transmitted from pigs to humans through direct contact with infected pigs (healthy pigs 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 last up to several weeks). People with meningitis caused by Streptococcus suis, if diagnosed and treated late, will have serious consequences: permanent deafness on one or both sides, not recovering. Some patients have to be treated persistently, with many relapses.
