Holiday from hell: How eating Pad Thai from food court in Thailand left Aussie couple with debilitating illness

[wilcopops]

1 hour ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

If you eat a meat and seafood diet the possibility of food poisoning is heightened. 

Really? 2 things....

Can you support that with hard evidence?

How is that relevent to this thread anyway?

[zeusbheld]

1 hour ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

If you eat a meat and seafood diet the possibility of food poisoning is heightened. 

 

if by food poisoning you mean *any* food borne illness, including parasites, nope. not compared to... SALAD! 

the particular parasite in question here is Dientamoeba Fragilis, and like most food borne illnesses is spread through fecal contamination. let your imagination run wild on that, especially if you've ever worked in *any* restaurant kitchen. *anywhere*. 

[zeusbheld]

PS if it was the Pad Thai odds are the sprouts are the culprit. they're raw, easy to contaminate and not easy to wash thoroughly. 

 

[Catoni]

15 hours ago, Andrew65 said:

Just never got "into" Thai food. Plus, I always had a suspicion that it would be red hot/too hot.

 

This was reinforced some years ago when I ordered some spicy noodles, way too hot for me, gave the plate to a friend, wasted money also.

I'm not a fussy eater, but I'm not the most adventurous either.

I’ve never had any problem telling them that I like my food “...just a little bit spicy.  Not very hot spicy, just little bit hot spicy.”

     

[Catoni]

6 hours ago, darhut said:

They are not blaming street food the accusation is against food from a food court.

I’ve eaten lots of street food in Thailand and Cambodia. Never got sick. Also ate at the foot court just off the street from the Chiang Mai night market. Never got sick. 

   Did get food poisoning in Canada. 

[jak2002003]

22 hours ago, Curt1591 said:

 

I am never without a small squeeze bottle of hand sanitizer ... Not only do I use it before eating, I also use it after riding snot infested public transportation!

You know that hand sanitizers can triple your risk of getting Thyroid cancer and other cancers?  Might be better to cut down on how often you are using it!!!

22 hours ago, AlfonsV said:

I stay in Thailand thus I have food experience of 35 years. During this period I had food poisening 4 times, each time 1 day, 

Food poisoning will last more than a day, you will likely be vomiting, have a fever, aching and upset stomach with painful cramps, and you need antibiotics for it to clear up quickly. 

 

You just had an upset stomach, probably the food was too spicy for you.  Too much chilli if you are not used to it will make you have to run to the toilet, but clear up after a few hours when it's all out of your system.  That is not food poisoning!!!  

22 hours ago, Vacuum said:

This must be a lie, or the medical care in Australia is going downhill.

Probably all the other doctors did not want to 'help' them as they knew they were making up stupid stories.

21 hours ago, The ball tamperer said:

So if they get food poisoning in Australia they will migrate and not return?

They even said it was a holiday form hell.  Seems they had a nice holiday while there were here.  If that is their idea of hell they really living sheltered lives.  

20 hours ago, justin case said:

people here with hand sanitizer habits, just use soap

 

those alcoholic gels kills bacteria, but also the GOOD one's, so the bad will start to multiply out of control... 

 

you have 100 trillion bacteria in your guts that work for you, keep you alive, transform your food into energy, and only 10 trillion human cells...

 

 

NO no.. yuck, my guts have no bacteria in them.. how dare you... I drink a pint of sanitizer each morning.  lol.

 

20 hours ago, unamazedloso said:

I have had food poisioning several times and even checked by eating the food again to make sure whats the cause. Most of the time its the ice in the drinks!

Thats my 2 cents anyway.

Our local chemist has great food poisioning medication so never fussed and eat whatever...

You got food poisoning and then went back and ate the exact same food again... to give you food poisoning a SECOND time to prove it to yourself?????????????   Sorry don't believe you.   Ice in the drinks... that is a myth.... they buy in the ice from factories where its make with filtered water... they don't fill their own ice cube trays from the tap.

 

 

18 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

I won't eat food prepared by Thai's if I can avoid it, 

 

Thai workers here do not give a rats about hygiene,

 

Coming from a 1st world country ……….

 

For the record, not a Thai basher, 

Not a Thai basher...…… really?  

15 hours ago, ocddave said:

I usually try to zap (microwave) every meal here when I get a chance (wife brings food home, or orders it local), 

So what?  You realise if there were food poisoning bacteria in your microwave food, microwaving it will not stop you getting sick!!!!!!  The bacteria would have produced TOXINS and you will get ill the same.  

5 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Agree. AFAIK there is no bacteria, parasite or virus that can survive four minutes of being microwaved.

But the toxins they produced are still in the food and you will still get sick from them.  

2 hours ago, ZeVonderBearz said:

If you eat a meat and seafood diet the possibility of food poisoning is heightened. 

Fake.... get your facts straight, or are you just pushing your vegetarian agenda here?

 

Some of the top foods to give you food poisoning are VEGETARIAN.

 

Rice  - Bacillus cereus bacteria most common 

Raw vegetables, lettuce, tomatoes, -  Salmonella and E. Coli

Fruit - Listeria 

Sprouts - wide variety of bacteria.

 

 

 

[Percy P]

On 7/8/2019 at 11:47 AM, RichardColeman said:

Another satisfied tourist for the TAT's figures

I've been in Thailand for the last 25 years .I eat of the street. One of my nicetties is Pad Thai cooked in front oF my eyes. 

Never had any food poisoning. What food did they have following the Pad Thai. What food did they have on the flight and drink. I'd have thought they would have sensed something was wrong next day. If they were to be involved in a car accidents would be give up driving .

[toofarnorth]

19 hours ago, CanadaSam said:

 

Well, it's not technically a "food" but we eat it anyway!

Not hairy clams or fur burgers I trust ?

[toofarnorth]

16 hours ago, Megascott said:

IMHO, Fake. If you pay attention to the food recalls, much more people die from with E-coli and Salmonella back home in the States or Australia than here in Thailand.

 

Most Americans that go to Mexico eventually get what we call "Montezuma's revenge" which is a parasite in the Mexican water, doesn't affect everyone or most Mexicans, but if you got the runs and stomach cramps, blame it on that. I think similar to the parasite these Aussies got. The normal antibiotics and Nsaid for the pain is almost always prescribed, and the effects are short lived.

 

I have never had a parasite or food poisoning and I've lived in some shady places, including the USA, S. Korea, Turkey, Australia, Germany, UK, India and now Thailand.

 

I also suffer from Memory loss, occasional Diarrhea, occasional Constipation, General sluggishness and Memory loss. Seems normal since last I checked, since these are all symptoms of getting old.

I too am getting on a bit as now 72 , don't know about you but I DO suffer from memory loss , if I remember correctly.

[Vacuum]

6 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

Ice in the drinks... that is a myth.... they buy in the ice from factories where its make with filtered water...

...but sometimes they pack the ice in bags that have been used to transport chickens, ducks, piglets and what not. I've seen this several times. So I don't think it's a myth, but it mostly concern tourists who are used to  ultra/over clean environments in their home countries.

[toofarnorth]

16 hours ago, kcpattaya said:

Living in Thailand since 22 years.

Eating Thai food almost every day.

Often 'street food'.

Never ever been sick.

We never know what the couple have been eating; where or when.

I can't judge. Nor should they.

Easy to point fingers... but on a fast selling food-court it seems 'a little bit' unlikely that the source was there...?

 

I arrived here in 2005 , not been sick once and eat out at least 5 times per week. I get the squits sometimes but this is possibly from drinking out of damp glasses .

[marcusarelus]

1 minute ago, Vacuum said:

...but sometimes they pack the ice in bags that have been used to transport chickens, ducks, piglets and what not. I've seen this several times.

No they don't.  Where did you witness such vile behavior?  

[Andrew65]

2 minutes ago, marcusarelus said:

No they don't.  Where did you witness such vile behavior?  

I've seen plenty of ice deliveries in old rice sacks.

[toofarnorth]

2 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

...but sometimes they pack the ice in bags that have been used to transport chickens, ducks, piglets and what not. I've seen this several times. So I don't think it's a myth, but it mostly concern tourists who are used to  ultra/over clean environments in their home countries.

Nail on the head there. Some drink bottled water only from Lotus , I knew someone that wouldn't even use tap water to rinse mouth after using a toothbrush. I drink water from those 20l containers @ 12 B.  A few bugs along the way and we build up a resistence to many harmful things.

[HHTel]

5 mins on the net shows this report as being 100% BS.  Dientamoeba Fragilis can be difficult to diagnose and impossible to trace the source.  It's prevalent all over the world.  It's a parasite that lives in the main intestine of humans, pigs and gorillas!!  It's not known for sure how it is transmitted.

 

Maybe they were paid for a good story.

[marcusarelus]

21 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

I've seen plenty of ice deliveries in old rice sacks.

What about the dead chickens, ducks and piglets that I was talking about? 

[HHTel]

Look at the Australian government's websites about the parasite.  Dangerous - no.

 

https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/public+content/sa+health+internet/health+topics/health+conditions+prevention+and+treatment/infectious+diseases/dientamoeba+fragilis+infection/dientamoeba+fragilis+including+symptoms%2C+treatment+and+prevention

[ocddave]

1 hour ago, jak2002003 said:

So what?  You realise if there were food poisoning bacteria in your microwave food, microwaving it will not stop you getting sick!!!!!!  The bacteria would have produced TOXINS and you will get ill the same.  

I'll take the toxins over the alternative, but thats just me. In either case, I don't like Pad Thai anyway, and I avoid raw foods and especially things like Thai clams, other shell fish, etc. I figure in most cases I am getting better at avoiding the issue, and my body is getting used to the typical bacteria here. My biggest issue here is the chemical cocktail I am sure is found on all the food here, there is almost no way to avoid it. So dying of some nasty cancer is more than likely the outcome of prolonged stay in Thailand.

[HHTel]

On 7/8/2019 at 11:00 AM, webfact said:

The report didn’t reveal exactly how doctors were able to determine that the meal of Pad Thai was the source of the parasite.

Doctors didn't determine the source as that is impossible.  This is an ill thought out assumption by the 'victims' and possibly to raise their profile on their 'relationship' website.  They had to look for a doctor to treat them as many doctors believe that the treatment can only make it worse.  Apparantly 25% of healthy people carry the parasite.

[Just Weird]

On ‎7‎/‎8‎/‎2019 at 1:58 PM, White Christmas13 said:

Speak for your self

You missed my point, didn't you?  

[DrTuner]

Five stars and "so exotic!" food review left in tripadvisor, right?

[RJRS1301]

3 hours ago, wilcopops said:

Absolute nonsense! "Food poisoning" can take. days before it manifests.

A secondary facet of this story is it is revealing the appalling lack of knowledge with regards to food poisoning and things medical that many TV members have.

 

 

It was a parasitic infection, not food poisoning,  Totally unrelated to food poisoning.

 

 

[jak2002003]

1 hour ago, Vacuum said:

...but sometimes they pack the ice in bags that have been used to transport chickens, ducks, piglets and what not. I've seen this several times. So I don't think it's a myth, but it mostly concern tourists who are used to  ultra/over clean environments in their home countries.

Sorry, but that is not very believable.  piglets, chickens and ducks are not transported in bags anyway (at least not for commercial reasons). 

 

I have been here 14 years and NEVER seen ice being transported in old dirty animals sacks....., yet you have seen it several times?  How about taking a photo next time...…………..

 

 

 

 

[easydoesit]

The fact is that it would be impossible to tell with absolute certainty where they picked up the virus, and shouldn't there be more cases reported in Thailand if it was picked up here?

Either way it is really irresponsible for their news media to pick up on the story and broadcast it as if they were 100% certain, and warning people not to travel to Thailand due to the threat of becoming infected.

I have lived here for four years, and I have never had any issues with street food I have eaten, although I did get food poisoning from eating out in the States, and from  two large food chains within six months of one another.

Maybe I should take a trip to Australia, and get myself infected with e-coli, then alert the Thai News Media and get them to broadcast the story from my hospital bed.

Who's with me?????

[White Christmas13]

37 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

You missed my point, didn't you?  

No I did not

[jak2002003]

1 hour ago, ocddave said:

I'll take the toxins over the alternative, but thats just me. In either case, I don't like Pad Thai anyway, and I avoid raw foods and especially things like Thai clams, other shell fish, etc. I figure in most cases I am getting better at avoiding the issue, and my body is getting used to the typical bacteria here. My biggest issue here is the chemical cocktail I am sure is found on all the food here, there is almost no way to avoid it. So dying of some nasty cancer is more than likely the outcome of prolonged stay in Thailand.

I think you may be a tad over thinking things about Thai food.  I am sure eating Pad Thai is not going to give you cancer, or have a high chance of food poisoning if you think about it logically.

 

And, cooked food is just as likely to give you food poisoning (may be even more risk) than raw.  Raw, however, might put you at higher risks of internal parasites.  

 

 

[ocddave]

14 minutes ago, jak2002003 said:

 I am sure eating Pad Thai is not going to give you cancer, or have a high chance of food poisoning if you think about it logically.

I'm not sure how you came to the Pad Thai and cancer correlation, but OK.

[Just Weird]

17 minutes ago, White Christmas13 said:

No I did not

Either you very clearly did miss my point or you were just being obtuse. 

[White Christmas13]

don't make me go trough all the pages but you said even westerners don't

wash their hands after visiting the toilet and I said speak for your self

 

[Percy P]

On 7/8/2019 at 11:47 AM, RichardColeman said:

Another satisfied tourist for the TAT's figures

But most people live too hygienicly and their immune system is very poor. They come too these semi third world countries and expects everything as it they were at home. food is wrapped without it ever been touched by a humane person.don't get to clinically with food. Some people even complain when a fish is picked up by hand. Pity National service isn't still in force.

I'm 80yo never had a illness in my life it's not what you eat, it's what you don't eat. I drink the water from the tap when in Bangkok. it's chlorinated  100% water born bacteria free and has all the minerals,unlike water from the RO machines which has none.

 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Percy P