米飯在冰箱放太久，吃了竟然有生命危險

If meat is left out on the counter for too long, we all know we need to throw it out. But what about rice or pasta?

如果肉在冰柜上放太久，我們都知道我們要扔掉它。但是米飯和意大利面呢?

Although that carby goodness might seem harmless after sitting on the bench for a bit, you'll probably think twice about it once you hear about the bacterium Bacillus cereus.

如果這兩種碳水化合物的食物只在冰柜里擺了一會兒，似乎是無害的，但一旦你聽說過蠟樣芽孢桿菌，你可能會三思而后行。

It's not a particularly rare germ. B. cereus will happily live wherever it can – soil, food, or in the gut.

它并不是什么罕見的微生物。蠟樣芽孢桿菌會開心地出現(xiàn)在任何它能存活的地方——土壤、食物、或者在腸道里。

"The known natural habitats of B. cereus are wide-ranging, including soil, animals, insects, dust and plants," Anukriti Mathur, a biotechnology researcher at the Australian National University, explained to Science Alert.

澳大利亞國立大學的生物技術(shù)研究員Anukriti Mathur向《科學警報》雜志解釋說:“已知的蠟狀芽孢桿菌的分布區(qū)域范圍很廣，包括土壤、動物、昆蟲、灰塵和植物。”

"The bacteria will reproduce by utilising the nutrients from the food products [..] including rice, dairy products, spices, dried foods and vegetables."

他說:“這些細菌會利用食物中的營養(yǎng)物質(zhì)繁殖。包括大米、奶制品、香料、干糧和蔬菜。”

Some strains of this bacterium are helpful for probiotics, but others can give you a nasty bout of food poisoning if given the ability to grow and proliferate - such as when you store food in the wrong conditions.

這種細菌的一些菌株對益生菌有幫助，但如果賦予它們生長和增殖的能力，比如當你儲存食物條件不當時，其他菌株會給你帶來嚴重的食物中毒。

In 2005, one such case was recorded in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology - five children in one family got sick from eating four-day-old pasta salad.

2005年，《臨床微生物學雜志》記錄了一例這樣的病例——一家的5個孩子因為吃了放了4天的意大利面沙拉而患病。

According to the case study, pasta salad was prepared on a Friday, taken to a picnic on Saturday. After coming back from the picnic it was stored in the fridge until Monday evening, when the kids were fed it for dinner.

根據(jù)對案例的研究，意大利面沙拉是在周五做的，周六帶去野餐。野餐回來后，它被貯藏在冰箱里，直到周一晚上，才把它拿出來給孩子們當晚飯。

That night the children began vomiting, and were taken to hospital. Tragically, the youngest child died; another suffered from liver failure but survived, and the others had less severe food poisoning and could be treated with fluids.

當晚孩子們開始嘔吐，被送往醫(yī)院。不幸的是，最小的孩子死了;另一個小孩肝功能衰竭，但活了下來，剩下幾個孩子的食物中毒程度較輕，可以補液治療。