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

[tabarin]

4 minutes ago, Isaanbiker said:

Blaming Thailand and the street food is totally insane.

 

  There's other food that could be way more dangerous. I've never had any issues after eating Paad Thai, btw. 

Yeah right, try telling that to someone else. Maybe when comparing with worse third world countries lol. 
Not to mention the levels of pesticides in the food and the old oil used to cook.

[Mitkof Island]

Is that all foreigners ever eat in Thailand? Pad Thai , Pad Thai Pad Thai. And how many have died in the U.S. from the food they ate. Eighteen years i was finally had the runs one night and was better by morning. I have eaten at thousands of restaurants throughout Thailand. Guess what? Maybe once a year i eat Pad Thai. It is so fracking boring !

[Seismic]

2 hours ago, bkkbudddy said:

Greetings, 

I had many episodes of food poisoning in Thailand!  Therefore,  I'm very careful of what and where I eat in Thailand!

Greetings,

in 40 years I have only had a single episode of food poisoning in Thailand. On the other hand I have had food poisoning in Australia, U.K., USA, Mexico, Norway, Mauritania, Somalia and Singapore, So on the whole, I have had a fairly balanced diet ????

 

[eggers]

Seems a very vague accusation, to be able to categorically state was definitely "food court food" that affected them "..shortly after returning home."

- What does that mean....hours, days, a week, what timeframe?

- What does "Food Court" mean?? There are food courts in many various facilities, i.e.Shopping cntrs, supermkts,   food stalls, on streets?? 

- Where?? Ohh, in Thailand!!! ... can that be narrowed down to a Province, City, District, Village!! Where exactly in Thailand??

- Why taken 2 years to have 7 News make a report???  Didn't have a reporter available till now???

 

So many holes, could drive a cattle road train thru..... typical media beat up!!

[Chelseafan]

2 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Pretty easy to narrow down the meal that starts an episode of food poisoning.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Yes but food poisoning can take 2 days before it kicks in

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/food-poisoning/

 

 

[lannarebirth]

24 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

I would never eat an oyster.

 

On one of the occasions of food-poisoning by oyster that I mentioned, this occurred at a five star hotel in Bangkok, not even a food stall. (I will not name the hotel because I don't wish to impugn what is probably otherwise a good reputation).

 

"If you collect bivalve molluscs (oyster, razor clams, cockles, mussels) from the wild and eat them raw, there is a reasonable chance you will poison yourself.

The list of possible toxic agents is long and worrying. Bacteria, such as E coli, are almost always present at some level in any bivalve". 

 

I may have to give up on the Hoy Tod. Warm water oysters are neither as delicious or as safe as cold water oysters.

[Andrew65]

7 minutes ago, Mitkof Island said:

Is that all foreigners ever eat in Thailand? Pad Thai , Pad Thai Pad Thai. And how many have died in the U.S. from the food they ate. Eighteen years i was finally had the runs one night and was better by morning. I have eaten at thousands of restaurants throughout Thailand. Guess what? Maybe once a year i eat Pad Thai. It is so fracking boring !

I spent nearly 20 years living in Thailand and never ate Pad Thai. In fact I would go for several years of not eating any kind of Thai food at all.

[Chelseafan]

7 minutes ago, Mitkof Island said:

Is that all foreigners ever eat in Thailand? Pad Thai , Pad Thai Pad Thai. And how many have died in the U.S. from the food they ate. Eighteen years i was finally had the runs one night and was better by morning. I have eaten at thousands of restaurants throughout Thailand. Guess what? Maybe once a year i eat Pad Thai. It is so fracking boring !

My guess is that if it's their first time in Thailand it's probably one of the few dishes they know.

 

[Vacuum]

This sounds like an article by The Sun. Perhaps PearthNow is co-owned by the TheSun?

[Regyai]

Maybe

 

hes just being

 

Priggish

 

????

[Curt1591]

1 hour ago, Andrew65 said:

You're right there. I only really became a regular before-food hand-washer during my time living in Thailand.

 

1 hour ago, yokat said:

In Thailand I genuinely feel like I need to wash my hands before eating or when coming back from outside (commute, groceries, etc). I was not like that in my home country but I really feel like I'm more at risk here.

 

I didn't get any major food poisoning in the last 2 years, just the occasional upset stomach and that doesn't last. I am always a little scared when sharing the sticky rice with the in-laws but so far I'm fine.

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!

[Thaifly88]

2 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Pretty easy to narrow down the meal that starts an episode of food poisoning.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

that's true - but 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Shortly after returning home they both began to feel unwell

we can't tell from this whether they felt unwell directly after eating the pad thai

[FarFlungFalang]

2 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

This sounds like an article by The Sun. Perhaps PearthNow is co-owned by the TheSun?

Worse,it's channel 7. 

[animalmagic]

Quick google search - 

Dientamoeba fragilis is a species of single-celled excavates found in the gastrointestinal tract of some humans, pigs and gorillas. It causes gastrointestinal upset in some people, but not in others. It is an important cause of travellers diarrhoea, chronic diarrhoea, fatigue and, in children, failure to thrive. Despite this, its role as a "commensal, pathobiont, or pathogen" is still debated. D. fragilis is one of the smaller parasites that are able to live in the human intestine. Dientamoeba fragilis cells are able to survive and move in fresh feces but are sensitive to aerobic environments. They dissociate when in contact or placed in saline, tap water or distilled water.

 

To reiterate others here I am rather unconvinced that was one plate of pad thai.  No idea how they can blame it on one specific dish on one specific day.  From my simple understanding it seems that it exists in many humans anyway and is kept in check.  Probably travel fatigue, jetlag or dehydration caused an imbalance in the host and it then started to have an effect?  Pure guess work; as opposed to sensationalist reporting.

[White Christmas13]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

Neither do westerners and Australians.

Speak for your self

[AlfonsV]

First I came and now 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, i.e. about once in a decade. Once I got lamblya because a young dog succeeded to lick my lips, but this was an easy diagnosis and treatment. However I have to say that I always ate vegetarian and during the last about 6 years vegan. Meat and seafood in hot climate is more “dangerous“ than “at home“ anyway. 

[Lupatria]

Now that they are safe downunder, they shouldn't have gone public with their story. Its us now suffering the rest of the week due to confrontation to TAT news about Thailand as the 'Kitchen of the World', and how som tam can cure cancer.

[shy coconut]

2 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Pretty easy to narrow down the meal that starts an episode of food poisoning.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

They got ill shortly after they got back to striney.

[Andrew65]

6 minutes 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!

The hand sanitizer's a great idea.

I worked in Africa many years ago, there was an outbreak of Cholera amongst the locals. One of the preventative measures enforced to stem the spread was a strict hand-washing regimen, including extra hand-washing facilities.

 

This was a culture where eating with fingers was common, also shared dishes/food.

[legend49]

1 hour ago, potless said:

It can take 24 to 48 hours to manifest, sometimes longer. Depends on the bug.

 

1 hour ago, potless said:

It can take 24 to 48 hours to manifest, sometimes longer. Depends on the bug.

Agree in the main first symptoms about 6 hours so you can identify which meal. ! hour is poppycock.

[elgenon]

2 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Pretty easy to narrow down the meal that starts an episode of food poisoning.....

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

Please tell me how. I have read it can take up to two days for symptoms to develop.

[Chelseafan]

2 hours ago, bert bloggs said:

When you get food poisoning ,you get it within an hour or so , not days later when you get home ,so their story is a load of rubbish.

That's not true. You can get FP much later.

[remorhaz]

From Wikipedia: "There is a continuous debate whether D. fragilis is considered to be a harmless organism or a pathogenic parasite.^[5] Infection with D. fragilis, called dientamoebiasis, is associated variously with symptoms of abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss, nausea, fatigue and fever. In one study, D. fragilis was identified in 0.9% of patients observed."  So it isn't at all a certainty whether this bug is to blame or something else.  Apparently many people have it already and don't even notice so yeah... I'd say this is their Aussie doctor reaching for a cause to get them out of his office.  

[Vacuum]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

At the fourth time of asking, the couple finally found a doctor who was willing to treat their illness

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

[madmen]

Did they start a go fund me to pay for their inconvenience?

[Andrew65]

3 minutes ago, Chelseafan said:

That's not true. You can get FP much later.

Organism	Common Name of Illness	Onset Time After Ingesting
Salmonella	Salmonellosis	6-48 hours
Shigella	Shigellosis or Bacillary dysentery	4-7 days
Staphylococcus aureus	Staphylococcal food poisoning	1-6 hours
Vibrio parahaemolyticus	V. parahaemolyticus infection	4-96 hours

 

Also:

Signs and symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection typically begin three or four days after exposure to the bacteria, though you may become ill as soon as one day after to more than a week later.

[atyclb]

2 hours ago, londonthai said:

Almost impossible to get a parasite from a freshly cooked meal. More likely from sushi, undercooked fish or meat. From contaminated water or unwashed fruit, vegetable salad. 

They dragged going to doctors and getting just a simple antibiotic for 4 weeks. Over the last 2 years their infection spread, should be treated as soon as they got their first symptoms without affecting their lifes. 

On the first visit to doctors they should point out that they came back from a tropical country and a simple laboratory test will show this parasite. 

The story smell fake, hard to believe their delayed treatment and doctors incompetence

 

 

that one is believed to spread most commonly by the feco-oral route therefore it would mean an employee with poor toilet sanitary habits simply handling the food and or plates.

 

"most infections are believed to be through direct fecal-oral spread "

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/997239-overview

[madmen]

Just now, atyclb said:

 

that one is believed to spread most commonly by the feco-oral route therefore it would mean an employee with poor toilet sanitary habits simply handling the food and or plates.

 

"most infections are believed to be through direct fecal-oral spread "

https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/997239-overview

Those that practise TIB with the local ladies would strongly disagree. A friend told me that 

[Vacuum]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Shortly after returning home they both began to feel unwell and completely drained of energy to the point where they could not even get out of bed.

According to the photo, perhaps they should cut their use of steroids....

[Chainsaw]

I've lived in Thailand for 20 years eating street food on a regular basis all over Thailand. I've had food poisoning twice, once from KFC and once from McDonalds - go figure!