Doctor says rat poison made her patient sick

A well-known Beijing doctor's online post, which says a patient had fallen ill after eating street-side kebabs that may have contained rat poison, has raised concerns among people who love street food.

Yu Ying, a doctor from Peking Union Medical College Hospital, said on her verified Weibo account Tuesday that she believes the street food vendor used rat or dog meat to make the kebabs that sickened her patient.

"The patient had blood in his urine and purple skin spots. Tests at the 307 People's Liberation Army Hospital in Beijing showed his blood contained rat poison," she wrote on her microblog.

She later added that the case shouldn't reflect badly on all street food vendors.

"I've previously seen two to three cases of rat poison from patients who ate kebabs," she said.

Her post had been reposted 80,000 times and Web users had left more than 10,000 comments, before the doctor deleted her original post Wednesday.

Yu is refusing to talk directly to the media.

Experts say there have been fewer cases of people suffering from rat poisoning since tetramine, a more lethal rat poison, was banned in 2003.

"People may suffer nausea, diarrhea and even hemorrhaging in some serious cases. Many people with these symptoms sent to hospital are believed to have eaten restaurant or street food contaminated by rat poison," said Peng Xiaobo, a specialist at 307 Hospital.

"Health authorities have meted out stiffer penalties to those who break food safety laws. Consumers should also pay more attention to the food they eat," Ma Yanming, deputy director of the publicity department at Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, told the Global Times Wednesday.