Monday, 3 July 2017

Chinese vlogger thinks she's eating aloe vera on live stream, then rushes to hospital

Last Monday, a Chinese woman named Zhang was munching on what she thought was an aloe vera plant for her live vlog, in which she eats unusual foods for her audience of a few hundred. But after two bites she realized she'd made a mistake. After the first bite, the 26-year-old vlogger said, "This is great. Yum." But after the second bite she says, "Oh, that's bitter. That's really bitter." The camera then shut off.

Off camera, Zhang's mouth quickly became numb, and her throat felt like it was on fire. She was also losing her voice. Severe rashes and blisters began to cover her body. She rushed herself to the hospital and recovered after having her stomach pumped.

According to The Mirror:

Her "Aloe Vera Feast" - as her channel's stream was title - turned very bad, very fast as she actually ate the leaves of a century plant - which is also called the agave Americana. The poison desert plant from the Americas, which resembles aloe vera, is sold in China as an ornament, and its likeness to aloe vera is thought to have fooled the woman.