nidhogg

Thank you all for your replies so far. I have of course started doing some research re liver cancer and have found that liver cancer very common in Thailand and Khon Kaen is the liver cancer capital of the world. Why is this do you think? Lao kao?

Liver cancer is extremely high in Thailand as a result of three main causes:

1. Rampant alcoholism

2. High incidence of Hep B and to a lesser extent Hep C

3. high incidence of infection of liver flukes (Opisthorchis viverrini or Clonorchis sinensis).

The flukes come from the "pla rah" they put in som tam, particularly in the north east of Thailand.

I strongly advise anyone NOT to eat som tam plah rah.

There's too much risk of receiving blame or having your intentions misunderstood.

We come from countries where there are frequently enacted "good samaritan" laws, which provide a measure of legal protection to some one trying to help.

Be warned that there are NO such equivalent laws in Thailand, and yes, you could end up in a great deal of trouble in trying to provide asistance, however well intentioned.

Whilst we're on the subject, where are dental schools? I think CMU has one.

Know Mahidol has one and pretty sure Chula has one as well.

No idea of fees, but local Thai rate not going to be that high.

does anyone have any ideas. clearly i don't have a very green thumb.

me neither, but I read something along these lines a while ago, so the following is for what its worth (caveat emptor, no warranty implied)!

A disease called "bacterial wilt" is very common in Thailand. Seems the native plants (those small rubber ball things they sell) are resistant, but imported varieties not. Solutions (as I recall) are hydroponoics or grafting.

here is a bit on bacterial wilt, it may or may not be useful. And, as said i know bugger all about growing tomatoes, so it may or may not be pertinent.

good luck.

http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/tomato/bacterial_wilt.pdf

"Its worth remembering that counterfit drugs are not unheard of in Thailand, and that there are a number of questions about the efficacy of generic drugs"

There was a study done on those issues a couple of years ago. Sorry I can't locate the link right now, but it found that those occurrences were very low.

What WAS discovered is that the meds are not always stored properly and, due to the heat and humidity in Siam, some of the small so-called "pharmacies" occasionally had stock that was questionable.

That's correct. The quality of drugs produced in Thailand is comparatively good.

A simple search on GPO-Vir will show you that that statement is questionable at best.

I had not thought about this issue in the past... just walk over to the cashier and pay the bill.

I will most definately be requesting prescriptions to buy medications outside the hospital from now on.

Its worth remembering that counterfit drugs are not unheard of in Thailand, and that there are a number of questions about the efficacy of generic drugs made in Thailand (and in other less developed countries that get imported into Thailand).

caveat emptor.

Just what the topic says as per Bangkok post. I just wonder what group is in charge of organizing this ...

as well as how much the kickbacks were...

As a result, Thai authorities now recognise us as a couple and have granted my wife a dependent visa. My question is, how do I get our marriage registered under UK law, or with the British embassy?

Thanks in advance.

British Embassy in bangkok. However, thats to register an overseas marriage in UK. I don't understand how you were "married" in UK without it being registered.

Anyway, your starting place:

http://ukinthailand.fco.gov.uk/en/help-for...ister-marriage/

buy drinkie is same same as having sex withthem.

Really?? dam_n. I have either been doing sex wrong, or buying drinks wrong.....

That's why they give you that slip of paper at the desk. If something like this happens, tell them.

Yeah, and you will get zero help.

I live outside of bangkok limits (just) and when taking a cab from the airport it is a fixed fare (approx double the real meter rate). A while back I got into a stonking argument with one driver who tried to charge me treble the rate. He went from "this is what they told me at the airport", to "you must pay extra for the suitcase" etc etc etc. None of which was right, as I have probably made the trip 100 times over the years (and many times since).

Anyway, got the Thai wife to call the number, and quite simply they did not give a shit. The ONLY thing they would deal with was if a bag had left in the taxi.

By no means the assurance that that little slip of paper is supposed to give.

To the OP though... $15,000 US = run away LoL You don't want any part of a family with the nerve to ask for that kind of money.

Just to point out that a high sin sod can be a very polite way of saying - we would rather you did not marry our daughter.

also just another quick question if anyone has any experience of divorcing in thailand i am aware that she is entitled to 50% of anything gained after the marraige (i believe this to be true please tell me if i am wrong) but i do not have any property in my name and all i have is my savings, would it be possible to literally give all my money to someone until after the divorce then have them put it back in my bank after the divorce? i don't have alot of cash left after all the costs i've had to pay for getting my wifes visa and living in thailand with her over the past 5 years so all the money i have is what i have managed to save over the last year which is money i would like to keep hold of.

thanks alot

So, you took her away from her life, family, friends and culture with who knows what promises, and now you want shot of her without a dime.

Sounds as though she might be the lucky one to be shot of you.

If anyone can point me to any resources, would be very much appreciated.

Charity, as they say, begins at home. How about trying these people:

http://singapore.angloinfo.com/afdetail.asp?Rec=4190

The Spastic Children's Association of Singapore

Sure they would love to have your help for a few months. Or maybe try the local Red Cross?

I did not say it causs HIV. But it is a vaccine and a mild form is introduced basically to encourage resistance to the main disease, in lay terms. But because it is a vaccine it can have problems - thoigh I added that in the case of polio, for example, the benefits outweigh the dangers. .

Uh, no. Sorry, but no.

There are a number of vaccination strategies currently in use.

You are hooked up on the traditional, "live attenuated" vaccines. These are mild forms of the pathogen, that elicit an immune response to protect against the more severe form.

Other commonly used forms of vaccine include "inactivated" (the actual pathogen is killed by heat or chemical) and used as the vaccine. Subunit vaccines, which purify (by one method or another) a single part of the pathogen which is then used to elicit and immune response. DNA vaccines, etc

The two vaccines used together in the HIV trial under discussion are both recombinant vaccines. They have only a single or a few HIV genes in a backbone of something entirely else (canarypox in one case).

The vaccines are definately NOT "mild forms".

The wiki entry on vaccines (general) is reasonable. You might like to go have a browse:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccine

In that article, the HIV vaccines would come under the heading "experimental"

I worked with Francis Crick at the Salk Institute in San Diego.

Not in the same lab of course, and I was a peon, so I never actually had a conversation with him. The best I ever got to do was sit in a corner and listen to him wax philosophical, but what I do remember from this time was that he was an ego maniac. He was motivated by his own desire to see his name in history.

(snip)

It is a sad state of affairs when you can't trust the medical and scientific profession, but this is the nevertheless where we have arrived in today's diseased culture. You can make statistics say anything if you are clever, and +/- 10 people (the difference between the 2 groups was only 20) out of 16,000 doesn't give me any confidence that this is real and not simply an attempt to steal more grant money.

Maybe in 50 years we'll know whether this vaccine actually has any merit, but I doubt anyone will find me in the queue to get shot up by today's big business pharma thieves.

If the rest of you want to be lab experiments, be my guest. But always remember that money has corrupted research today. Decide how much your life is worth before you believe anything.

Watson was always the brains in that pair, and everyone knew it - which might be part of the drive of Crick for fame.

As to the current trials. Pretty much every major HIV vaccine trial in the world (including several in Thailand) has been a resounding failure. This one, if memmory serves correctly was an attempt to salvage two candidates that have failed spearately in trials. Another failure might have knocked HIV vaccine trials on the head - for the foreseeable future. In this respect, I can see that the results maybe overhyped, to allow continuation of funding for the research. The objective, an HIV vaccine is considered, generally, a worthwhile objective.

As a side note, the US army has invested considerably in all kinds vaccine research for more than 100 years. The objective of course is vaccines for US troops - so while I am not knocking their involvement, its not entirely without self interest - still that does not alter that many vaccines in common use owe a considerable debt to the US armys involvement in vaccine research.

So it actually injects a mild form into the blood.

No mate - definately and absolutely NOT.

The two vaccine candidates are both recombinant vaccines. I am on dial up so can't do a proper post on the nature of the two vaccines used in combination, but got this snip from the yahoo link in an earlier post:

ALVAC uses canarypox, a bird virus altered so it can't cause human disease, to ferry synthetic versions of three HIV genes into the body. AIDSVAX contains a genetically engineered version of a protein on HIV's surface. The vaccines are not made from whole virus — dead or alive — and cannot cause HIV.

People need to be very clear about this.

I can't even spell epidemiology but as far as statistics is concerned you are right. It is not "statistically significant"

Thailand can't yet claim the hub of scientific discoverries. Nice try I suppose but mathematicains would not buy it.

Uh, perhaps there is a correlation between poor spelling and a poor understanding of statistics. A 31% increase in prevention in a phase III study is significant in any mathematician's book.

Well, I am not a mathematician, and I do have bad spelling - however, I once saw a cartoon program about statistics, so I will have a go. Simply using a Chi squared test on the numbers presented (that cartoon was fairly detailed) gives you a bare level of significance that indicates that there is a 1 in 20 chance of the numbers falling that way by random chance.

Now, as it was quite a long cartoon, it also mentioned multiple regression analysis which is a statistical tool for dealing with lots of variables. So, whats the odds that putting in data on participants sex, age, sexual orientation and drug use habits (to name a few) and still ending up that the vaccine is a significant independent variable? - small, would be my guess, very very small.

Think I will keep the condoms handy for a bit longer.

There is no relation between those stories and pre-paid airline tickets. The ticket is already paid for and frankly I don't need the airline's help in protecting my 'security', if by 'security' they mean denying my significant other the right to board with a ticket purchased with funds from our relationship. Most advanced Western airlines like United don't require the passenger to be the card holder at all... it's only these ramshackle asian airline passengers that are paranoid they'll lose a few extra ruppees to some member of the thieving lower castes.

I dunno. You ask peoples advice, then get snarkywhen they give it. From your post, you did an on-line credit card purchase. No proof to anyone that you did the purchase, and, in some ways, the ticket is not "pre-paid" - its on credit!

To avoid this, go to a travel agent as has been said. The "card holder must travel" is part of almost every airline on line ticketing policy I have encountered.

The "Tom" doing this in the presence of the husband was a direct challenge by one "alpha male" to another "alpha male". If he just grins and bears it, the Tom becomes "top dog", and hubby becomes just a source of funds.

It's not clear how long the Switzerland couple plan to remain in Thailand. If this is a brief visit, probably best to just go with the flow, not make a big deal, and let the incident pass.

If the Swiss couple is relocating back to that community in Thailand, then the husband has the choice of being the side show "bitch" of a better Tom-man than himself, or of standing up and reasserting that he is the alpha male. It's his choice - whether he wants to get punked and stay punked - or figure out how to stand up.

Now we know. Clearly, according to your theory, the Swiss guy forgot to pee on his wife to mark his territory.

The thing I find really fascinating about Fox is the fact that the manipulation of its viewers is so obvious yet nobody seems to see this.

Brilliant isn't it? I have two cable systems, a cheap one (40 or so Thai chanels, plus two english chanels) which sound the same one you have, plus UBC (don't get me started!). The cheap one is for the missus, and UBC for me mostly. Great fun is comparing the coverage between CNN and Fox. The last presidentail debate was scored something like 60-40 to barak on CNN and 88 to 12 to mccain on Fox.

The "fair and impartial" on fox really cracks me up. "Tonight we will compare the health policies of the anti-american, terrorist loving barrack hussein obama with those of the patriotic war hero McCain. Stay tuned".

LOL

My neighbor, who built his house AFTER I was already in my home , out of the blue walked up to me and my cat while standing on the public road between our properties and kicked my cat.

Have you heard of a book called "Kicking dogs" by Colin Piprell?

The title comes from the habit of Thai's taking out their anger in a non-confrontational manner, basically substituting the nearest thing - usually a soi dog.

Be clear on this, its nothing to do with the cat, but this guy has a lot of anger directed against YOU.

Forget any notion of "fairness" "justice" or the like. The guy is as near to a law unto himself as makes no difference.

Your options are basically two - move if posible or if not find an intermediary who can determine what the real problem is so you can sort it out.

This is not something you should let fester - on his side, not yours.

I'm a laidback guy believe it or not. Hopefully I'll get better (the neuropathy and lymph pains are real and still occuring) and test negative at 6 months.

If not I'll take the pills and live as long as I can - I enjoy hill-walking n mountain biking and will continue to be cool.

Over and out till December, be lucky.

There are something like 1,500 known human pathogens plus countless other diseases that arise in the absence of a pathogen (cancer, autoimmune etc). Your symptoms really don't fit with HIV.

If you are unhappy with your docs diagnostic/treatment regime - change him!

Why would Thai food stalls be adding industrial chemicals to their food? It makes no sense. It would increase their expenses with no benefit. The Chinese dairies are adding the melamine to diluted milk to make it pass quality tests for protein content. The nitrogen in the melamine gives a false higher protein result on a quick protein test.

Back to the original subject, Cadbury bars are now confirmed as contaminated, the milk chocolate and hazelnut ones. Also a couple brands of 2 in 1 and 3 in 1 coffee, Mr. Brown and some Chinese brand. Also Lipton Milk Tea and Blue Cat flavored drinks.

can you support that with a link to your source please?

As far as I am aware (and certainly prepared to be corrected) its only certain cadburys products that are made in China and they are not exported to thailand:

http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/200...late-safe-in-us

Cadbury is withdrawing a range of its chocolate products and Choclairs -- all made at Cadbury's Beijing plant -- from the market in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

Cadbury products made at that plant are only exported to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia.

To me, you are a dangerous diver, diving on borrowed time. If I could dive again, I'd never dive with some one with your crass attitude. You need some retraining. It's always a good idea to have a "checkout dive" every year or even more just to make sure you haven't developed bad habits. And you have one!

For the experienced, trained and properly equipped diver (with full redundancy), solo diving is an acceptable risk. The problems occur when the diver is not trained, equipped and experienced.

For the OP, solo diving would be an unacceptable risk. Its well outside his training and experience.

I strongly encourage OP to forget solo diving for a long time to come. Get a couple of hundred dives under your belt, get further training in a variety of dive environments, and get more, specific, training in solo diving before even considering entering the water alone.

When she was bitten, there really wasn't a great risk judging from the behavior of the dog that the dog had rabies, a disease which is indeed rare these days;

This is very wrong. Surveys of street dogs in Thailand put rates of rabies antigen/antibody prevelence in the 50 to 80% range, showing very high rates of transmision in the local (stray) dog population. The easiest study to follow is one in which over a 1000 'suspect" dogs were place under observation (suspect defined by biting some one, abnormal behaviour or illnesss) for 10 days. Over 50% of the dogs died and were CONFIRMED as being rabid on autopsy and analysis. The study is this one:

java script:PopUpMenu2_Set(Menu18634517);Tepsumethanon V, Wilde H, Sitprija V.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1863451...Pubmed_RVDocSumTen-day observation of live rabies suspected dogs.Dev Biol (Basel). 2008;131:543-6.

A few further points:

1. Thailand has a surprisingly active anti-rabies program that is relatively cutting edge in southeast asia. There will be long term progress if the program continues to be supported.

2. Incidence of (human) rabies cases HAS fallen dramatically in Thailand, primarily ue to significant advances in the post bite treatment (the jabs you get after being bitten) - thats not a Thai developed treatment though.

3. To the guy given augmentin -it was never meant to treat the rabies, dog bites are dirty, and dog bites contain a number of potentially nasty bacteria - the augmentin was aimed at those, not the rabies.