kiwi girl dies of food poisoning

[maaka]

Another death, No. 7, that of a Canadian man, suffering from chest pains in early Jan, died after eating at the Downtown Inn restaurant, and swimming in the hotel pool , has just come to light..

[maaka]

yes Wazza, I believe you can catch that echovirus or coxsackie B from shall I say, dirty water..I will check today to see if the girls swam in the pool..

[captain gon]

Very informative posts Wassa. Mostly I have brushed my teeth using tap water. That will change as of today.
Thank you

[maaka]

BOB, could you please check your private email address for my recent messages, as certain offical docs are attached..

[BobHelm]

Looks like some one is at last starting to get somewhere with this mystery..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/49 ... ters-death

Toxin 'likely' cause of Sarah Carter's death

An investigation has found traces of a potentially lethal toxin in the Thai hotel where Wellington woman Sarah Carter became fatally ill.

Traces of chlorpyrifos, which is used to kill bedbugs but has been banned in other countries, have been found in samples that current affairs television show 60 Minutes had independently tested.

Carter, 23, died and her friends Emma Langlands and Amanda Eliason became gravely ill while on holiday in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Does not read like a good substance to be around..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorpyrifos

[Saboo]

kiwi girl dies of food poisoning…. Unarmed Saudi man dies of a seal related death… even Seve Ballestero snuffed it… seems to be a reoccurring topic here…

[wazza]

Bob this is scary. Poisoning . I bet the other toxicology reports didn't test for this . .

Corporate manslaughter in UK if true.


One comment from me is. The owner also is in business with other resorts in the CM area. Scary thought if its common practice with the day to day operatkosn of his business. No doubt he will claim the high ground and sack a few domestic staff claiming he didn't know.....

[wazza]

Makes a none also of the local forensic investigation.

[wazza]

Organophosphates are a nasty topically absorbed chemical, ( via the skin ), so a house keeper could spray the bed down after the bed was made, and lying on it at night would allow the chemical to be absorbed via the skin.

I have seen a few of these organophosphate poisoning, in my job, horrible, Profuse sweating and salivating patients, and u need buckets of atropine to treat them. The ones I saw were all orchardists, spraying , and not covering up, the mist got onto their skin and down they went in 1 hour.

[BobHelm]

Foreign press to be updated on probe
By THE NATION

Blood-test test results awaited; Official says bed-bug spray 'not behind deaths'

The governor of Chiang Mai yesterday confirmed that public health authorities and the police were continuing to investigate the mysterious deaths of seven tourists at the northern city's Downtown Inn and planned a press conference for the international media today on the probe.

Governor Panadda Diskul yesterday took part in a video-conference with Chiang Mai public health officers, the epidemic bureau chief and World Health Organisation officials. He said that initially medical personnel believed the tourists' deaths weren't related but they were still waiting for blood-test results from Japan and the US.

His comments were made after New Zealand TV3's "60 Minutes" programme suggested the chemical spray chlorpyrifos that kills bed bugs was responsible for the death of 23-year-old New Zealand tourist Sarah Carter, on February 6, as well as six other people reported to have died in similar circumstances since January.

Besides Carter, an elderly British couple, a Thai tourist guide and a Canadian man died after staying at the hotel or using its facilities, while two other women died in similar circumstances within a month.

Commenting that media reports about what happened might affect the city's tourism, Panadda confirmed that Thai officials, working with WHO, were probing the case to the best of their ability and with transparency. He said international envoys, including a New Zealand embassy representative, would be invited to the press conference at 2pm today at the Chiang Mai Public Health Office.

"As the provincial governor, I assure you that the police and public-health officials have worked with transparency. Since the deaths, the Chiang Mai public health office and WHO joined the investigation so that Thai media could report this case in-depth, studying the facts for accuracy and with justice for all sides," he said.

The governor said Thai public-health officials had contacted Carter's father in New Zealand and he seemed to understand them better, although he still had some questions. He said the incidents were unfortunate for the hotel because each death was not related to the other and the international media had given contradictory information, such as claiming the hotel owner was Panadda's relative, which was not true.

Downtown Inn manager Thanthep Boonkaew said that after the news of the tourists' deaths came out, the hotel had opened its premises for inspection by many agencies, including Thai media.

A New Zealand media report linking the hotel to Carter's death was not true, he said. Their charge that a chemical bug spray the hotel used might have caused her death was not correct. He stayed at the hotel every day, he was fine, and a health expert told him the spray used in the hotel was an unlikely cause because "even if you take a spoonful of it, it won't kill you".

And so the saga continues without end.
I am not sure that the authorities in Chang Mai actually understand that UNTIL the reason for each death is adequately explained it is worse for the city than whatever the real cause is.
It is OK to keep saying that the cases are unrelated, but, to me, that just makes matters worse.
If I was a tourist coming to Thailand then Chang Mai is the last place I would visit.
Something there is killing what appear to be perfectly healthy adults & no one know why.
Safer to stay away as you don't know what to avoid at the moment..

[parrot]

"If I was a tourist coming to Thailand then Chang Mai is the last place I would visit."

If, in fact, the cause of death was from the pesticide noted, I'd be concerned that the same thing could happen elsewhere in the country. Thais (that we know anyway) are notorious for not reading/following instructions (pesticides, paints, owner's manuals, etc). If you're running a hotel/resort, you don't need bedbugs. And getting rid of the buggers, from what I've read, isn't the easiest thing in the world.
It's the reason I prefer to do my own 'pest' removal around the home, rather than have one of the pest removal companies come and possibly taint our well water.

[fdimike]

Maybe it wasn't the chemical spray but the bed bug itself which may be carrying some nasty drug resitant bacteria.

Read the following recently:

http://www.ecanadanow.com/health/2011/0 ... -bacteria/

[maaka]

I believe I was the original poster of this topic. However, due to becoming heavily involved in this case, I have had to reframe from making any further comment, or discussing details over the internet, in order to keep the the trust of other parties involved, but I just wanted to say that I still come back here on a regular basis, and read all your opinions, and consider your suggestions on the matter.

[maaka]

Probe into Chiang Mai deaths concluding, Updated 21 June 2011,
Thai authorities are rounding up the investigation into the deaths of five tourists and a Thai guide in Chiang Mai earlier this year. The extensive information gathered during the investigation will now be analysed with a consultative expert panel appointed by the province. The expert panel and the investigation team will review interviews and examine clinical, laboratory and environmental data before the latter make their conclusions and recommendations which are expected in the next month.
The eight-member expert panel is composed of an infectious disease expert from the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University; a clinical toxicologist from Ramathibodi Hospital, Bangkok; a pathology and forensic medicine expert from Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok; a senior epidemiologist from the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health; an expert on pesticide use from the Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University; an environmental specialist from the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University; a psychiatrist from the Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University; and a cardiologist from the Chest Disease Institute, Department of Medical Services, Bangkok.
The formation of the expert panel follows an exhaustive investigation into the six deaths as well as the associated illnesses of three other tourists in Chiang Mai between 11 January and 19 February of this year. The investigation is examining potential viral, toxin and chemical causes and involves a large number of domestic and international partners.
These include the Department of Disease Control and the Department of Medical Sciences at the Ministry of Public Health; the Provincial Public Health Office, Chiang Mai; Ramathibodi Poisons Centre, Bangkok; the Ministry of Agriculture; the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United States Centers for Disease Control (US CDC). Staff of the consulates and embassies concerned are also kept informed and consulted. The investigation, which is winding down with only some laboratory results pending, has involved clinicians, epidemiologists, laboratory specialists, pathologists, and toxicologists. Certified laboratories in Thailand as well as the US, Japan and Germany were used to test biological and chemical samples collected from the patients, their hotels and the Night Bazaar in Chiang Mai. In addition, international toxicologists from Australia, India, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, the United States, the WHO and the US CDC examined the evidence gathered and reviewed the laboratory findings.
The investigation also includes interviews with co-travelers and some family members in the US, Canada and New Zealand, in an effort to gather and standardise information about all possible exposures. -2- The people who died and fell ill are being examined in three groups based on the hotels they stayed in, as follows: 1) One American woman (age 33) who died on 11 January and her Canadian colleague (age 29) who fell ill 2) One French woman (age 25) who died on 19 January 3) a) One Thai woman (age 47) who died on 3 February b) One New Zealand woman (age 23) who died 6 February and her two traveling companions (both age 23) who both fell ill c) A couple from the United Kingdom – one man (78) and woman (74) who both died on 19 February Major Findings to date:
• Based on the evidence gathered and the clinical presentations of the cases, investigators and their partners largely concur that the French woman had acute myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) which may represent a sporadic case due to an infection, rather than exposure to a poison. The clinical symptoms and inflammatory cells found throughout her heart muscle (confirmed in 3 different laboratories, two in Thailand and one at the US-CDC) support this opinion. There was general consensus amongst experts that this patient appears to have suffered from a different cause than the other cases under investigation. •
For the other cases, the investigation has been pursuing the hypothesis of a toxin or chemical cause including chemicals found in some pesticides. Laboratory tests are still being gathered under this hypothesis. These test results will be submitted for consideration by the panel of experts and investigation team. A final conclusion of the most likely cause of these deaths and illnesses, as well as any important related factors, will be made by the official investigation team, following a thorough consultation with the eight-member multi-disciplinary panel of experts.
The investigation team will base their conclusion upon the synthesis of evidence from clinical, epidemiologic, laboratory, environmental and forensic investigations. It is also possible that despite the best efforts of Thai authorities and international partners, a complete explanation for the cause of illness and death may not be found for all cases. The Department of Disease Control will provide information on its Thai and English websites (www.ddc.moph.go.th). Any persons who may have specific medical or public health concerns about this event are invited to report them or make queries using email address: askcmevent@gmail.com.

[maaka]

Thai panel of experts are due to give a final decision today, on the cause of tourists deaths at the Downtown Inn Chiangmai, and other nearby Hotels..

[Aardvark]

Just read an Article on it. Seems it might be a case of "Too little too late" sort of scenario ??

[maaka]

final report on the deaths of tourists in Chiangmai delayed till Monday..
There may not be answers to the cause of all the deaths, but we are hoping for some answers in regards those that died at the Downtown Inn

[jackson]

I saw on NZ tv Curent affair programe they found the reason for the deaths. The rooms had VERY recentl been sprayed with a very toxic BED BUG insecticde!!!! They inhaled it throudg the night as it was all through the beddind accordind to the NZ TV crew thay went there to investigate

[maaka]

thanks Jackson for your comments
I have been personally involved in the matter for the last seven months, investigating on behalf of some of the parents, and it was the parents that asked me to meet with the tv crew, before they left for Thailand, to discuss possible causes of death..for reasons of confidentiality, and this thread going out to the worldwide web, I cannot elaborate to much if I want to keep the trust of other parties who I may nmeed to work with again in the future..

yes the tv crew did find a chemical called Chloropryifos, but there is debate as to how much is needed to kill a person in such a short time span as overnight..I would point out that the tv crew only sampled one room, however after the tv crew departed, other parties undertook test sampling of a number of rooms, to include the NZ girls, Thai lady, UK couples, and others of interest. Other accomdation was also sampled..it is this more indepth testing, plus the results of further medical tests on the surviving girls, plus all the available info that is part of this coming report..hopefully it will explain matters alittle further, and come up with a cause..I do not believe a cause will be found for all the victims, due to lack of autposies, medical evdience and other factors, but it is hoped to hopefully find some closure for some of the families..fingers crossed

[maaka]

final report has come out now in regards the death of tourists in Chiangmai earlier this year..( maybe someone can add a link to the report for me)

surprise surprise, no real answers as to cause on any of the deaths, it could have been a chemical, pesticide or gas. However I guess the reward in this case, is what will be put in place in the future, in regards handling of tourist deaths, future investigations, hospital protocols, new hotel and pest company standards regarding use of fumigants / pesticides, and other such matters..