Advice to the wise: Stay away from ghost peppers.
Puree made from the notoriously hot pepper caused a rare, life-threatening illness in a healthy 47-year-old California man, according to a recent report into his case.
Ghost peppers are one of the hottest chili peppers in the world, the report states. The ghost pepper’s “heat” exceeds 1 million Scoville heat units, the report states. (For comparison, a poblano pepper has 2,000 Scoville units and a jalapeño has 5,000 Scoville units. Eating one ghost pepper seed can cause an intense burning sensation in the mouth that can last up to 30 minutes, the report states.)
In the man’s case, the ghost peppers were pureed and served on top of a burger as part of an eating contest at a local restaurant. After finishing the pepper-topped burger, the man drank six large glasses of water and began “violently vomiting,” according to a report published online in the Journal of Emergency Medicine in September.
The man went to a San Francisco emergency department with uncontrollable vomiting and severe chest and abdominal pain, the authors write.
A CT scan of the man’s chest revealed he had a torn esophagus and a collapsed left lung, and he underwent emergency surgery.
During the operation, surgeons found a 2.5-centimeter (1-inch) tear in the man’s esophagus, which had allowed food — a mixture of “hamburger, onion, and other green vomit” — to leak into the space around the man’s collapsed left lung, according to the report. Surgeons repaired the man’s esophagus and re-inflated his lungs, then inserted a feeding tube to allow the esophagus to heal.
The man’s condition, known as “spontaneous esophageal rupture,” also known as Boerhaave syndrome, is “a relatively rare phenomenon,” said lead study author Dr. Ann Arends, who was an emergency medicine physician at the University of California, San Francisco, when the man’s case occurred in the summer of 2015. (Dr. Arends is now an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.)
Spontaneous esophageal ruptures are caused by severe vomiting or nausea, Arends said, meaning it was the man’s reaction to the ghost pepper that caused the rupture, not the pepper itself.
The condition is extremely dangerous and, even with treatment, is fatal in 20 to 40 percent of all cases, the report said. [the condition is] Without treatment, mortality approaches 100%,” the authors write.
When patients die from an esophageal rupture, the cause of death is likely a “rapid and fatal infection,” Arends told Live Science.
The man was released from hospital 23 days after the operation, according to reports. He still had a feeding tube in place when he was released, but Dr. Arens said the tube was only temporary while his esophagus healed. Dr. Arens said he believed the man’s condition was currently good.
When Ahrens spoke to the man after the surgery, he said he “didn’t seem interested in trying.” [eating a ghost pepper] “Again,” she said.
Dr. Ahrens noted that he was not the patient’s primary physician in the emergency room, but rather said he had been contacted by doctors treating the man who wanted to know if there was an “antidote” to the chili peppers.
“Unfortunately, there are no specific antidotes for chili peppers other than regular antacids,” Arends added.