Teenager dies from a stroke caused by hickey, doctors believe
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - JUNE 11: A couple kisses as people watch on Rue Pererra Nunes as the 2014 FIFA World Cup nears on June 11, 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) (2014 Getty Images)
It turns out that making out can kill.
As reported by Hoy Estado de Mexico, Julio Macías González, 17, of Mexico City began having convulsions while at dinner with his family. The teen had spent the evening with his 24-year-old girlfriend – identified only as “Iris" by the paper.
Iris had marked him the way that millions of young people have staked their claim on each other throughout the history of the world: By giving him a hickey.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Unfortunately, doctors believe the hickey created a blood clot that traveled to the teen’s brain and caused the convulsions and the stroke that killed him.
Paramedics were called to the teen’s home, but he could not be resuscitated and died shortly afterward.
According to the Independent, González’s family did not approve of their son’s relationship with Iris, in large part due to the age difference.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A similar case was reported by the New Zealand Medical Journal in 2010. A 44-year-old Maori woman developed sudden-onset left arm paralysis. Doctors discovered a small bruise on the woman’s neck, and linked the “love bite” to her neurological symptoms. She was admitted and treated for an acute ischaemic stroke. She was released from the hospital and had fully recovered at her one-month checkup.