According to information from the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, patient D. V. C (45 years old, Bac Ninh) had a history of eating pig blood pudding about 4 days before being admitted to the hospital. Two days after meals, the patient developed high fever, severe headache, and nausea. The symptoms progressed very quickly, the patient gradually fell into a state of drowsiness, agitation, and altered consciousness, so he was taken to a nearby medical facility for emergency treatment.
Due to the severe condition, the patient was transferred to the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases to continue treatment.
MSc.BSNT Phan Van Manh, Emergency Department, said that when admitted to the hospital, the patient had reduced consciousness with a Glasgow score of only 9 points, accompanied by typical signs of acute meningitis. Doctors diagnosed the patient with meningitis, monitoring due to Streptococcus suis (swine streptococcus).
According to Dr. Manh, in cases of acute meningitis with conscious disorders, the most dangerous complication is cerebral edema. This condition causes intracranial pressure to increase rapidly, which can cause serious brain damage, threatening life if not treated promptly.
Immediately after receiving the patient, the treatment team placed an endotracheal tube, put the patient on a ventilator, used antibiotics and simultaneously implemented many active resuscitation measures to control cerebral edema.
After 4 days of intensive treatment, the patient's health improved significantly, the endotracheal tube was removed and transferred to the General Infection Department for continued monitoring and treatment.
According to MSc.BSNT Phan Van Manh, streptococcus suis is currently one of the leading causes of meningitis in adults in Vietnam. Not only causing meningitis, this bacteria can also lead to sepsis with severe manifestations such as hemorrhagic rash, blood clotting disorders, septic shock, multiple organ failure and high risk of death if not detected and treated promptly.
It is noteworthy that although the above case has a history of eating pig blood pudding, in fact, the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital has received many patients who said they only ate chicken, goat or other types of blood pudding but in the end were still diagnosed with streptococcus suis.
According to doctors, the cause may stem from the fact that during processing, some establishments have mixed pig blood into other types of blood pudding, causing eaters to not know but still face the risk of dangerous bacterial infection.
Experts recommend that people absolutely do not eat blood pudding and products from uncooked pork. After eating blood pudding or contacting sick pigs, if symptoms such as fever, headache, nausea, vomiting, neck pain or consciousness disorders appear, they should immediately go to a medical facility for examination and early treatment, to avoid dangerous complications that may be life-threatening.
