Doctors have issued an urgent warning about the dangers of drinking spoiled coconut water, after a 69-year-old Danish man died within hours of drinking a small amount of spoiled coconut water.
The man had purchased a peeled coconut from a resort a month earlier and left it in the kitchen without refrigeration. When he drank from it through a straw, he noticed a foul taste but ignored it.
After opening the fruit, the man from Aarhus discovered it was slimy and moldy. He told his wife it was spoiled and threw it away. But just three hours later, he began showing serious symptoms.
The man suffered from profuse sweating, nausea, and vomiting, requiring hospitalization. An MRI scan revealed severe brain swelling, but doctors remained unsure of the cause of these symptoms.
Despite all medical efforts, the man died 26 hours later from brain damage resulting from the poisoning.
An autopsy revealed fungi in the trachea. It was later determined that the fruit was contaminated with the fungus Arthrinium saccharicola, which produces a powerful neurotoxin called 3-nitropropionic acid, which causes rapid brain damage.
Doctors have warned that this type of poisoning, although rare, can be fatal. There is currently no known antidote for this toxin, and treatment relies on supportive care and managing symptoms and potential complications such as meningitis or encephalitis.
Doctors confirmed that this case demonstrated how rapidly and seriously the disease develops.
To prevent such accidents, doctors recommend:
Store hulled coconut in the refrigerator.
Consume it within a few days
Avoid fruits with an unnatural taste or smell.
Store whole coconuts only at room temperature.
It is worth noting that similar cases of poisoning have previously been recorded in China and Africa due to rotten sugarcane, confirming the danger mycotoxins pose to the nervous system.