A 30-year-old woman had a severe headache the next day after eating a bite of "overnight pizza" and had an emergency craniotomy

Xiaojing (pseudonym), 30 years old, is like most of the current single young people of advanced age. She does not pay a mortgage or raise children, and lives a carefree and comfortable life.

After work every day, I don’t go out for useless social activities. I just go home, lie down, watch TV series, eat and drink.

That weekend she stayed at home as usual, and her lunch was the pizza that had been left overnight in the refrigerator. She was too lazy to heat it up, so she just took out the pizza and ate it.

Unexpectedly, this one bite of pizza would bring her into big trouble.

Three days later, she had an unexplained headache and muscle aches. She initially thought it was a cold, so she took a painkiller and went to bed.

But when I woke up, the symptoms not only did not improve, I had a splitting headache, started vomiting, and my neck became stiff.

Realizing something was wrong, she took a flight to the Department of Neurosurgery at Shenzhen Second People's Hospital. After hearing about the course of the disease and the symptoms, the doctor became concerned - it could be meningitis.

Sure enough, after a series of examinations, the ventricles were already showing signs of infection, and the cerebrospinal fluid stratification could be seen.

The cerebrospinal fluid from lumbar puncture is also turbid pus. Normal cerebrospinal fluid is generally clear water.

What to do? There is no other way. Meningitis has developed into ventriculitis, and the only option is cranial surgery.

During the operation, we found that Xiaojing's ventricles had become like a "Pansi Cave" due to bacterial growth, with spider webs everywhere. It had to be cleaned out and combined with antibiotic treatment.

——Department of Neurosurgery, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital

Huang Xianjian, Director of the Critical Care Unit

But it is like doing a thorough cleaning on a wall covered with spider webs and mildew. It is difficult to make it spotless without damaging the wall in any way.

Accidental injury to the ventricular wall or blood vessels may cause massive intracranial hemorrhage at any time.

The whole ventricle is like a "Pansi Cave"

Fortunately, the operation went smoothly and Xiaojing continued to receive drug treatment in the hospital.

By the way, how could you get meningitis just by eating overnight pizza?

In fact, it is Listeria, a "refrigerator disease" that is causing trouble.

What is Listeria?

Listeria monocytogenes, a strain that is widely found in nature.

This is the main pathogen causing foodborne disease outbreaks and is also one of the deadly foodborne pathogens, with a mortality rate of up to 20% to 50%.

▲Listeria plate colony characteristics and microscopic characteristics

(Photo source: WeChat official account of "Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine")

It has a strong tolerance to various environments (such as low temperature, high salt, low pH, oxidative stress, etc.). 4-10 degrees is its most suitable growth temperature, and it can reproduce rapidly, so it is called the "refrigerator killer".

Listeria is a conditionally pathogenic bacterium that can enter the human body through contaminated food, the digestive tract, eyes, broken skin and mucous membranes, and cause infection.

Raw milk and its products, ice cream, raw fruits and vegetables, meat and meat products, cold cooked and raw foods, smoked seafood, etc. are all foods that are easily contaminated by Listeria.

These 4 groups of people are most likely to be infected

Listeria has limited pathogenicity to healthy adults.

If you really eat food contaminated with Listeria, symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, muscle pain, etc. will usually appear within 3 to 70 days (usually 21 days).

But people with low immunity need to be extra vigilant!

Pregnant women, infants, the elderly, cancer patients, etc. are the main targets of Listeria.

After a pregnant woman is infected, Listeria can infect the fetus through the placenta and birth canal. In severe cases, it can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth, neonatal sepsis, etc.

Other people with weakened immune systems may develop sepsis, meningitis, etc., which can be fatal in severe cases.

Don't want Listeria to come "stick"

Remember these 7 life-saving reminders

Listeria has a "weakness": it is not heat-resistant.

Simple measures such as pasteurization and cooking thoroughly can deal with it.

Therefore, as long as you remember these 7 reminders, it generally won’t come to “stick” to you——

① Do not eat: vegetables and meat that have not been sterilized (eggs, meat and seafood must be cooked thoroughly).

② Two things not to eat: Unpasteurized milk and cheese, and foods made from them.

③ Wash the fruits thoroughly: Wash the fruits thoroughly before eating, and it is best to peel them before eating.

④ Separate raw and cooked food: Before putting food into the refrigerator, seal it and keep raw and cooked food separate.

⑤ Check the packaging: When buying ready-to-eat food, check whether the seal of the food packaging is intact.

⑥ Heat thoroughly: Heat raw or cold food taken out of the refrigerator at 60 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes continuously, or at 70 degrees Celsius for more than 5 minutes before eating.

⑦ Maintain hygiene: Wash your hands, knives and cutting boards after they come into contact with raw food, and disinfect the refrigerator thoroughly regularly.

(Source: Shenzhen Health Commission, Medical Messenger)