Corn is one of the three staple foods
Huang Chengcheng's
Sweet and tasty
It is a favorite food of many people
But recently a woman
But something happened to the corn
Cough and wheezing continuously for a month
It was found that the lungs were full of fungi
What the hell is going on here?
After the woman was exposed to moldy corn, her lungs were covered with Aspergillus flavus
Xiao Liu, a 23-year-old worker in Wuhan, Hubei Province, coughed and wheezed for more than a month, and took medicine at home and did not get better, so she rushed to the hospital and checked to show that there was an infection in the lungs. However, doctors found that Xiao Liu's condition was different from that of general pneumonia infection.
Guo Pujian, resident physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Wuhan Fourth Hospital in Hubei Province, introduced:
The infection on the patient Xiao Liu's lungs is not very similar to the general pneumonia, she has chronic cough, low-grade fever, and the range of lung lesions is relatively wide and large.
In order to determine the specific cause of Xiao Liu's infection, the doctor urgently performed alveolar lavage for her and found that Xiao Liu's lungs were full of Aspergillus aflatogenes, causing a fungal infection. How did this fungus grow into the lungs? After a detailed inquiry of the medical history, it was learned that more than a month ago, Xiao Liu had returned to his hometown to help his family collect corn. According to the doctor's analysis, the cause of her illness is related to this.
Physician Guo Pujian found that Xiao Liu's corn may have been contaminated with Aspergillus aflatogenes. In the process of harvesting corn, a large number of Aspergillus aflatoma spores spread into the air, and Xiao Liu did not take any protective measures, in a short period of time, a large number of Aspergillus aflatoma inhaled into the airway, colonized in the lungs, and eventually led to serious lung infection.
Some people also questioned, "Is the pathogenesis of moldy corn related to corn varieties and so on?" ”
For everyone's questions, Zhou Wenbin, a researcher at the Institute of Crop Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said:
Moldy corn does have aspergillus aflatoma, which mostly appears during the corn harvest and is more affected by weather and climate factors. The moldy corn is cleared out in time during harvest, and other corn is dried normally before storage, which can reduce the probability of corn mold. Corn should also pay attention to temperature and humidity during storage, and if it is not stored properly, it will also become moldy. Some new varieties of corn, although the water content is not high, also need to be properly dried.
After netizens learned of this matter
Comments have been made:
It was horrible! Scalp tingling...
In fact, there have been poisoning incidents that may be related to Aspergillus aflatogenes before. Last year, nine people from a family in Xingnong Town, Jidong County, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, developed symptoms of poisoning after a dinner during the "Eleventh" long holiday, resulting in the death of 7 people. The results of the survey showed that the 9 people jointly ate homemade sour soup (a coarse noodle-like staple food made after fermentation with corn water), and the sour soup ingredients have been frozen in the refrigerator for a year, and it is suspected that aflatoxin exceeded the standard and caused food poisoning.
What exactly are aflatoxins and aflatoxins?
At the same time that the aspergillus aflex poisoning incident has received widespread attention, many netizens have begun to wonder, what is Aspergillus aflex? Why is it so powerful? Don't worry, Xiaobian will give you a good science popularization today!
Aspergillus aflatophyllus is a common mold in nature. Public information shows that aflatoxin is a metabolite of aflatoxin, its breeding temperature is 28 ° C -38 ° C, like humidity, generally invisible to the naked eye, the toxicity is extremely poisonous, more poisonous than the venom juice of cobras and golden ring snakes, 10 times stronger than the well-known highly toxic potassium cyanide, 28 to 33 times stronger than the toxic pesticides 1605 and 1059. In 1993, the substance was classified as a Class 1 carcinogen by the World Health Organization's (WHO) Cancer Research Agency.
It is worth noting that aflatoxin is mainly found in grain and oil foods, animals and plant foods, such as peanuts, corn, rice, wheat, beans, nuts, meat, milk and dairy products. Peanuts and corn are the most seriously polluted, such as peanuts and corn that are usually eaten, peanut oil used, and homemade peanut butter are easily contaminated by aflatoxin.
What are the dangers of contracting Aspergillus aflatois?
Aspergillus aflatogenes can cause aspergillosis of the lungs and sometimes cornea, ear, nose, and orbit. The spores of Aspergillus aflatogenes are also an allergen that can easily cause allergic reactions. In addition, eating food contaminated with Aflatoxin may ingest aflatoxin, which is highly carcinogenic.
After a large dose of aflatoxin, acute lesions such as hepatic parenchymal cell necrosis, bile duct epithelial cell hyperplasia, hepatic fat infiltration and liver bleeding may occur, and the early symptoms are fever, vomiting, anorexia, jaundice, followed by ascites, lower limb edema and rapid death.
How can I avoid Aspergillus aflatois infection?
1
Pay attention to protection when harvesting crops. When we dry and collect corn, peanuts and other crops, we should pay attention to the ventilation of the environment, try to stand in the upper air outlet for operation; at the same time, do a good job of personal protection, wear a mask with good air containment; if you have allergic diseases of the airway, you should try to avoid contact.
2
Do not eat moldy food. In daily life, do not eat moldy food, especially moldy peanuts, dried fruits, etc. When eating nuts, if you eat bitter, you must immediately spit out and rinse your mouth, which may be moldy nuts inside, and there may be aflatoxin.
3
Chopsticks and cutting boards should be washed and dried frequently. Chopsticks and cutting boards made of bamboo and wood may breed aspergillus aflatoma, so the chopsticks and cutting boards used should be cleaned frequently and dried in a cool, ventilated place. In addition, Aspergillus aflatogenes is not alkali tolerant, and cleaning can be done with strong alkali and sprinkled with table salt for sterilization.
4
Do not choose cooking oil from unknown sources. The edible oil we often eat is pressed with peanuts, rapeseed, soybeans, etc., and the raw materials selected for regular edible oil are generally not moldy and relatively safe. However, if you choose an unknown source of cooking oil, there may be the use of moldy peanuts, rapeseed, soybeans for pressing, often eating these oils may cause physical problems.
Finally, once again, I would like to remind you:
Aspergillus aflatophyllus may be hidden
Peanuts, corn and other grain products
As well as eating moldy food
Eggs and milk from poultry and livestock
Everyday life
We must be vigilant
Be protective
Guard your health and safety!
Sources丨 People's Daily News, Daily Economic News, Hubei Jingshi, Beijing News, Science Popularization China, Beijing Tiantan Puhua Hospital, etc
Editor| Sun Bingbing
Editor-in-chief 丨 Jiang Lin
Supervisor 丨 Zhong Qian
* Some of the images originate from the Internet, in case of infringement, please contact us to delete.