Westerner found dead in Udon Hotel

Post by **Saboo** » June 20, 2011, 8:20 pm

Tonight on Home-Cable TV… 6.30pm show… it Showed the tragic death of a westerner… looks like he commit suicide in the bathroom… Just caught the backend of the news story… anyone heard anything…?

Post by **lee** » June 20, 2011, 8:41 pm

There is a report in Thai on nationchannel.com. If you do look be warned the video is graphic.

Apparently the cause of death was severe diarrhea caused by e. coli and not suicide.

BTW the guys name was Daniel (66) from London UK.

ผวา “อีโคไล” ฝรั่งท้องร่วงตายในโรงแรมกลางเมืองอุดร

ผู้สื่อข่าวรายงานจาก จ.อุดรธานีว่า เมื่อเวลา 12.30 น. วันที่ 20 มิถุนายน ร.ต.อ.ไพบูรณ์ สุวรรณคุณ ร้อยเวร สภ.เมืองอุดรธานี ได้รับแจ้งมีคนเสียชีวิต ที่ห้องพักหมายเลข 202 โรงแรมศรีตระการ ถนนสายอุทิศ เขตเทศบาลนครอุดรธานี จึงออกไปยังที่เกิดเหตุ พร้อมด้วยแพทย์เวร รพ.ศูนย์อุดรธานี เจ้าหน้าที่มูลนิธิอุดรสว่างเมธาธรรม

ที่เกิดเหตุพบศพนายแดเนียล ฟอร์กีส อายุ 66 ปี ชาวเมืองลอนดอน ประเทศอังกฤษ นั่งกึ่งนอนพิงผนังห้องน้ำ สภาพไม่สวมเสื้อผ้า บริเวณในห้องที่พื้นห้อง ที่นอน กระเป๋าเดินทาง มีคาบอุจจาระเต็มทั่วบริเวณ ส่งกลิ่นเหม็นไปทั่วห้อง นอกจากนี้ยังพบยาแก้ปวดวางอยู่หัวเตียง จากการชันสูตรตามร่างกายไม่พบร่องรอยการถูกทำร้าย แพทย์ระบุว่าเสียชีวิตเนื่องจากท้องร่วงอย่างรุนแรง ประมาณ 4 ชั่วโมง

สอบสวนนางสุวรรณี ศรีตระการ ผู้จัดการโรงแรม ให้การว่า เมื่อ 5 วันก่อนผู้ตายเข้ามาขอเช่าห้องพักตามลำพัง แต่ผู้ตายมีนิสัยชอบดื่มเหล้า พอตื่นเช้าก็เรียกให้พนักงานไปทำสะอาดห้องพัก เพราะห้องจะสกปรก เต็มไปด้วยอาเจียน และอุจาระ ซึ่งผู้ตายได้เปลี่ยนห้องพักทุกวัน ก่อนเกิดเหตุ เมื่อวานนี้ผู้ตายได้เปลี่ยนมาอยู่ห้อง 202 แต่อาการท้องร่วงยังไม่หาย ตนจึงได้แนะนำให้ไปพบแพทย์ แต่ผู้ตายปฏิเสธ และออกไปดื่มเหล้าที่บาร์ใกล้โรงแรม

จนกระทั่งดึกผู้ตายได้กลับมาโรงแรมด้วยอาการมึนเมา และเดินขึ้นไปห้องพัก แล้วหายเงียบไป กระทั่งเที่ยงวันนี้ ตนได้ขึ้นไปเคาะประตูห้องเพื่อทำความสะอาด แต่ไม่ได้ยินเสียงตอบรับ ตนจึงไปบอกผู้จัดการโรงแรม เอากุญแจสำรองมาเปิดห้องพัก เมื่อเปิดประตูก็แทบจะอาเจียน เพราะได้กลิ่นเหม็นไปทั่วห้อง เมื่อเดินเข้าไปในห้องก็พบคาบอุจจาระเต็มไปหมด และพบว่าผู้ตายนั่งกึ่งนอนเสียชีวิตอยู่ในห้องน้ำ ตนจึงแจ้งตำรวจ

ร.ต.อ.ไพบูรณ์ สุวรรณคุณ ร้อยเวร ได้สั่งการให้นำศพไปเก็บไว้ที่โรงพยาบาลศูนย์อุดรธานี เพื่อตรวจหาสาเหตุการเสียชีวิตที่แท้จริงอีกครั้ง ทั้งนี้ผู้ตายอาจจะมีโรคประจำตัว และช่วงนี้เชื้ออีโคไล (E.coli) ซึ่งเป็นแบคทีเรียชนิดหนึ่ง ซึ่งเป็นสาเหตุทำให้อาการท้องร่วงอย่างรุนแรงจนเสียชีวิต และกำลังระบาดอยู่ในแถบยุโรป ผู้ตายเป็นชาวอังกฤษ อาจจะติดเชื้อมา จึงต้องแจ้งเจ้าหน้าที่สาธารณสุขจังหวัดอุดรธานี เข้าตรวจสอบหาสาเหตุการเสียชีวิตให้แน่ชัด เพื่อป้องกันการแพร่ระบาดของโรค

ผู้สื่อข่าวรายงานเพิ่มเติมว่า ล่าสุดเมื่อเวลา 17.15 น. ทีมชุดสอบสวนโรค กองควบคุมโรคติดต่อและระบาดวิทยา สำนักงานสาธารณสุข จ.อุดรธานี ได้ส่งเจ้าหน้าที่ลงไปตรวจสอบยังโรงแรมศรีตระการ ที่เกิดเหตุเสียชีวิต โดยทางเจ้าของโรงแรมไม่อนุญาตให้สื่อมวลชน ตามคณะเข้าไปทำข่าว ซึ่งทาง นพ.สัญชัย ปิยะพงษ์กุล นายแพทย์สาธารณสุข จ.อุดรธานี เตรียมให้สัมภาษณ์สื่อมวลชน หลังรับทราบข้อมูลจากทีมชุดสอบสวนโรคฯ ก่อน ..........

Post by **parrot** » June 20, 2011, 8:59 pm

Here's a quick gist of the article at
http://breakingnews.nationchannel.com/r ... sid=515970

On 20 June at 12:30AM a 66 year old from London, England, Daniel Fargus (not sure of spelling), was found dead in Room 202 at the Sritrakarn Hotel.( โรงแรมศรีตระการ) on Saiuthit Road in Udon. He was found naked in his room, with feces all over, no signs of physical assault. He had been dead about 4 hours.
Five days before his death, he rented a room at the hotel, alone. He drank frequently and a lot, according to the hotel manager. When the staff cleaned his room each day, there was vomit and feces in the room. The staff told him to go to a doctor, but he refused. He went out drinking at a nearby bar.
According to the investigation, a possible cause of death is from E. coli. The investigation continues.

From what I can see on my map at home, the hotel is probably one of those directly across from the bus station, near the complex http://maps.google.co.th/maps?hl=en&cli ... d=0CAQQtgM

Post by **parrot** » June 20, 2011, 9:11 pm

Reading the article again, there's mention of 'possible congenital disease along with possible e. coli.......but I think that's all conjecture at this point. The article says the body was sent to Udon Hospital to determine the cause of death.

Post by **Saboo** » June 20, 2011, 9:21 pm

Thanks Lee... Maybe you better alter the thread heading... I have made it very misleading... as I said I literally only seen the very end of the news story...

Saboo

Post by **JimboPSM** » June 22, 2011, 11:28 am

This article in "The Nation" appears to be about the same person.

Mystery tourist death sparks E coli alarm
By THE NATION Published on June 22, 2011

The Public Health Ministry is investigating the death of a 66-year-old British man at a hotel in the northeastern province of Udon Thani after developing severe diarrhoea for two days.

The health agency has taken samples from his body and sent them to Udon Thani Medical Science Centre for laboratory testing for the European strain of E coli.

The result is expected to be released in two days, the ministry's permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit said.

British native Daniel Forges arrived Thailand on June 5 and developed acute diarrhoea 12-13 days later.

"Preliminary results showed the cause of his death was not Escherichia coli O104 [the deadly European strain]," Pajit said.

"If this man was infected with E coli O104, his severe diarrhoea would have developed within 10 days of his arrival in Thailand," Paijit added.

Meanwhile, an investigator, Police Lieutenant Veerachon Khonthai, who had conducted the investigation into the death of Daniel, developed acute diarrhoea on Monday night after eating at a restaurant in Udon Thani.

He had contact with Daniel's personal documents, such as his passport, but frequently washed his hands and took medicinal drugs.

Doctors told him he might have been suffering from food poisoning. If a victim of the new strain of E coli, he would have developed the symptoms three to four days after infection.

Udon Thani provincial public health office has placed people such as hotel staff under surveillance in case of infection by bacteria from the restaurant Veerachon visited.

To control the spread of E coli bacterium in Thailand, the Disease Control Department will meet today to evaluate the E coli situation and investigate measures to prevent the spread of disease around the country.

Original article: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/My ... 58391.html

The headline appears to indicate there is a suspicion that his death was caused by E-coli, but apparently not the recent strain that has so far caused 37 deaths in Germany.

It should be noted that in cases such as the one in Germany it is easy to jump to the wrong conclusion - initially the German outbreak was attributed to cucumbers from Spain, that was later found to be totally incorrect, the source of the outbreak was actually found much closer to home in bean sprouts grown at an organic farm in Germany.

While the illness of the investigator (highlighted in red above) is disturbing, it may be nothing more than coincidence and it is encouraging to see the authorities taking such professional positive action.

Post by **Khun Paul** » June 22, 2011, 11:33 am

Agree Jimbo the latest bangkok Post article shows that in fact food poisoning and other less deadly strains of e-coli are the main cause of these problems in Thailand but when you see figures of over 600,000 as victims of these illnesses it does bring it home that eating out , in poor street side cafe and often in some other restaurants whose cleanliness is suspect is a lottery.

i mean it has taken over 10 years for the authorities to act on the night market eateries.

Post by **Prenders88** » June 22, 2011, 11:52 am

The town council needs to implement all food carts, noodle shops, and restaurants with a licence.
The licence would be a good revenue stream and force all the dirty food sellers off the street.
Anyone been to Singapore and seen the Hawker Centres, nice and clean, and all with licences.
All staff and food sellers should have at least a level 1 food hygiene certificate to get the food retail licence.

Toilets should have the same standards, no filthy towel, dripping wet, hanging up on a rusty nail.
That food cart vendor has just used such a toilet to snap one off.

Post by **wazza** » June 22, 2011, 12:07 pm

Have u en in a toilet with the staff ( bars , pubs, restaurents etc ) from the same establishment are also there with u.

Do they wash their hands, Well in Tongs they have never done it, to my knowledge, then watch them 10 mins later when they contact with the ice, when scooping into the buckets etc.

I stopped eating at Tongs years ago .

The street cart vendors, dont have any toilets, and they are human after all, so where do they drop one or piss. Let alone clean their hands after.

Listeria is also a nasty nasty bug that kills u, and is found in cooked rice that hasnt been stored correctly, It may have been cooked ok, but the cooking allows the spores in the bacteria to break out, and then grow , if kept in , U guessed it 35-37 degrees C.

Post by **Stevo** » June 22, 2011, 12:32 pm

wazza wrote:Have u en in a toilet with the staff ( bars , pubs, restaurents etc ) from the same establishment are also there with u.

Do they wash their hands,

Whilst having a jimmy in the super clean toilets at the Irish Clock, I have on several occasions seen the kitchen staff using the wash basin there to wash their hands (with antibacterial soap). =D>

Post by **pienmash** » June 22, 2011, 3:58 pm

How times change ???? i remember my olg grandad saying " i was in a war , i was a cook , conidtions were ruff and dangerous cold and icey in those trenches , i use to piss on my hands to defrost them before i made the food for the troops ............... brave man , a war hero and a dam good cook he even made a stew out of my gran after she passed away !!!

Im a cleanthiness freak , i change my socks and have a shower every Sunday wether i need it or not. !!

On a serious note the death of anyone is sad , im sure more info will come to light in the next few days as to where the fella stayed /ate etc .

i would imagine there are those synics amongst us who would wonder if he was bumped off by the missus after the house was finished and the new "brothers" truck paid for ,,,,,,,,,, of course that never crossed my mind as i love Thailand the Thais are all as straight as a dye ????????

mash.

Post by **parrot** » June 22, 2011, 4:58 pm

I went to the food court at the complex with some friends today....used the nearby restroom. It's been some years since I've used the one that was near there......filthy slimy mess with stalls spewing things I'd rather not think about. Today, the rest rooms were sparkly clean, with tissue, with soap, running water. A breath of fresh air!
But anyone who thinks all those food vendors in the food court are practicing safe food handling techniques are fooling themselves. Nonetheless, I'm sure it's cleaner than what you'd get off a street stall. I do like the tub of hot water to rinse off the fork and spoon before eating!

Post by **Adhoc** » June 22, 2011, 5:12 pm

wazza wrote:
Listeria is also a nasty nasty bug that kills u, and is found in cooked rice that hasnt been stored correctly, It may have been cooked ok, but the cooking allows the spores in the bacteria to break out, and then grow , if kept in , U guessed it 35-37 degrees C.

Absolutely correct, rice causes more cases of food poisoning throughout the world than any other food.

Post by **JimboPSM** » June 23, 2011, 1:48 am

Update from “The Nation”.

Dead Briton's things 'did not infect officer'
By The Nation
Published on June 23, 2011

Public Health Minister Jurin Laksanawisit yesterday dismissed speculation that an Udon Thani policeman became ill after touching the passport of a 66-year-old British tourist who succumbed to similar symptoms on June 20.

"Police Lieutenant Veerachon Khonthai had diarrhoea before he handled Daniel Forges' passport," Jurin said, adding that the officer was on his way to recovery.

"He ate food that was partially raw before developing diarrhoea in the evening of June 20," Public Health Ministry permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit said. "The likely cause of his illness was food poisoning."

Paijit added that the policeman was not present at the hotel where Forges was found dead and those who inspected the scene, including hotel cleaners and members of the staff, were being monitored to see if they develop symptoms.

"To date, none of these 25 individuals have developed diarrhoea, though they will be watched for another seven days," he said.

Forges arrived in Thailand on June 5, developed diarrhoea on June 18 and died two days later. However, Paijit said the cause of the death will be determined through lab tests and expects the results to be released today. He said it was unlikely that the Escherichia coli O104, a European strain of the E coli bacteria, was responsible for the death.

Disease Control Department deputy director general Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, meanwhile, has advised officials dealing with autopsies to always wear protective gear. "They should also wash their hands with soap or alcoholbased hand gel after conducting an autopsy or if they have any contact with things belonging to the dead," he said.

Original article: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/06 ... 58498.html

Still no information as to the locations where Mr Forge or the Police Lieutenant may have contracted their respective illnesses.

Post by **Khun Paul** » June 23, 2011, 7:30 am

Jimbo ; In reply to your posted qestions, I seriously doubt if there ever will be a reply to those questions, one is dead and ain't speaking the other eats free food from wherever he can get it so i doubt if he even knows.

The problem with any stomach ailments, is that not everyone is the same, two people can eat at the same place one gets ill in a few hours the other a couple of days so tracking down the culprit location is hard.
The logical ( not Thai way ) way to deal with this is a crackdown on un-licensed and street vendors who are at best breeding grounds for many I suspect problems regarding food in Udon, as well as Health checks on many so-called good restaurants in the locality.
it would help but i doubt if it will ever happen, so again we the foreign population should be alert and speak out if we see or find a place where the food or cleanliness is not up to scratch, i see from others that at least the Complex food court is improving as is Big 'C's toilets, still prefer well run establishments as opposed to Thai ad - hoc places.

Any stomach problems are very debilitating so not eating if I am not happy with the place is the only option, being hungry is better than being sick.

Post by **trubrit** » June 23, 2011, 7:45 am

Before we all get panicked into a food paranoia lets put this into perspective. To all our knowledge just one person here has died . In the recent outbreak in Europe 31 died and as the attached article shows , 3,000 deaths in the USA every year are attributed to E-coli or a similar pathogen cause .So of cause be aware and take proper hygiene precautions but lets not over play it .

http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article ... s-can-face

Post by **FrazeeDK** » June 23, 2011, 9:43 am

it appears from the thread that the guy was sick for a while based on the hotel maids' statements. It's unfortunate he didn't seek appropriate medical care or that someone (hotel management????) didn't intervene when noting the fellow was obviously ill...

Post by **wazza** » June 23, 2011, 1:12 pm

If and its yet to be confirmed, its a food bourne poisoning, whats a little strange is that no other cases of eg, E coli, Salmonella, Listeria have been reported to the local authorities.

I imagine there might be cases, but all presenting to their local clinics, and the Dr's treating as individual cases. Despite the local authorities awareness campaigns and attempts to track this down as a multiple exposure etc.

WE saw in Chiang Mai recently the reluctance of authorities to combine a set of circumstances and deaths, combined with poor clinical coordination.

The stool samples taken at the deceased last residence and also at the autopsy, will make it clearer, BUT E Coli has many strains, and not sure if Udon Public hospital has the fascilities to test, Maybe they need to also send to Sirakarin in KK and or BKK.

" Disease Control Department deputy director general Suwanchai Wattanayingcharoenchai, meanwhile, has advised officials dealing with autopsies to always wear protective gear. "They should also wash their hands with soap or alcoholbased hand gel after conducting an autopsy or if they have any contact with things belonging to the dead," he said " I would be pretty pissed off as a Pathologist to read this sort of crap coming from a person with his position.

Post by **parrot** » June 23, 2011, 8:08 pm

The latest from the ministry of public health says the bacteria is Plesiomonas shigelloides
(wiki says: a species of bacteria.[1] It is a Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacterium which has been isolated from freshwater, freshwater fish, and shellfish and from many types of animals including cattle, goats, swine, cats, dogs, monkeys, vultures, snakes, and toads.
http://www.thairath.co.th/content/edu/181240

Infections from this organism cause gastroenteritis, followed by septicemia in immune deficient patients.)

Post by **captainahab** » June 24, 2011, 3:34 am

NOT ONLY IN THAILAND DOES THIS HAPPEN

Man paralysed by poisoned pork chop
Contracted listeria from uncooked meat

Thu 23 Jun, 2011 01:00 pm BST

A man who was left paralysed after eating a pork chop contaminated with the food poisoning bug listeria has warned about the dangers of eating undercooked meat.
Speaking to the Daily Mail newspaper, Darren Ashall, 46, said he fell ill several weeks after eating pork chops prepared on a caravan stove, which he suspected were undercooked.
This apparently gave him listeria meningitis, a serious disease which has a mortality rate above 25 per cent, and an abscess on his brain.
Listeria bacteria can be found in uncooked meat, vegetables, unpasteurized milk and even in some processed foods. It is killed through sufficient cooking and pasteurisation.
Mr Ashall, from Chorley, Lancashire, said that a month after eating the uncooked meat he went to hospital thinking he was having a heart attack. With his face drooping to one side he was hospitalised and placed in intensive care.
The infection completely paralysed him and he was placed on a ventilator to aid breathing.
It was not until a few weeks later that he regained his vision and voice.
Mr Ashall has been told he will never recover fully from the infection and will be on a course of antibiotics for the rest of his life.

[urlhttp://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/mans-ordeal-highlights-listeria-dangers.htm[/url]