CHINA / SOCIETY
Man in Central China suffers from organ failure after driving car covered with mold and Legionella
Published: Jun 03, 2021 02:03 PM
Photo: Screenshot from Sina Weibo

Photo: Screenshot from Sina Weibo

 

A man from Central China's Hunan Province suffered from acute multiple organ failure after he drove his car which had been parked for two months and was covered with mold inside.

Mold grew allover the inside of the vehicle due to continuous rainfall in Hunan's Ningxiang city, where the man surnamed Liu lives.

After Liu drove his car when the sunny days came back and the temperature rose one day in May, he suffered from multiple symptoms including muscle and chest pains, headaches, coughing, fever and difficulty in breathing, similar to the symptoms of pneumonia.

When he was sent to hospital on May 16, he was diagnosed with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in his lungs, liver and kidneys and was immediately moved into emergency intensive care unit (EICU). Further examinations showed that the serious condition of acute multiple organ failure stemmed from Legionella pneumonia.

After half a month's treatment, Liu was discharged from hospital on Thursday.

His doctor Zhang Xingwen explained that Legionella spreads easily in damp and warm places such as in showers and air-conditioners. Legionella, which was discovered after an outbreak in 1976 among people who went to a Philadelphia convention of the American Legion, has a similar clinical presentation to pneumonia and can easily develop into a severe condition.

Global Times