A 20-year-old student died in his sleep – doctors said he made a fatal mistake while eating pasta

It was in 2008 that the Journal of Clinical Microbiology first reported this tragic case – in which a young man died hours after eating dinner.

Now, a little over 13 years later, the unfortunate incident has once again made headlines as ‘Dr. Bernard’ examined the case closely on his YouTube channel.

The video got millions of views, with several major media outlets trying to spread the information so that a similar thing would not happen again in the future..

It all started in 2008 when a 20-year-old student from Belgium returned home from university and heated a bowl of pasta and tomato sauce in the microwave. Until the moment of heating, the food was placed on the counter for five days at room temperature.

After eating the pasta, the student, known as ‘AJ’ in the 2008 report, went out to engage in sports activities.

Less than an hour later, AJ ran to his home, as noted in the report.

He suffered from severe nausea, cramps and headaches, as well as vomiting and diarrhea. Despite all this, he did not receive medical treatment and drank only water.

When AJ did not wake up in the morning, his parents got worried. They entered his room and found their son dead.

The report states that the cause of death was food poisoning caused by Bacillus cereus – a bacterium that produces a toxin that causes vomiting and diarrhea.

Liver damage

An autopsy and food test showed the bacterium was so toxic it caused AJ’s liver to collapse.

Dr. Bernard warns about eating leftover food.

“A lot of people eat pasta, or any other type of noodle, that stays for a day or two and they’re fine”, he said.

“But beware of food left outside for a few hours. If the food smells weird, it’s always better to be safe than sorry afterwards”.

Food heating is not the problem. The problem lies in the time between the moment you cooked the food and the moment you chose to eat it again.

The most important thing is to pay attention to details when it comes to hygiene, and not let the food stay at room temperature too long.