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

[tandor]

4 hours ago, BTB1958 said:

They only ate one dish of food the whole time they were here.? 

..must have..no other way to prove it was the phad thai dish unless they kept a food sample and had Microbiology testing done at a nominated Thai Lab and a second sample done at an independent laboratory..one should be careful implicating without conclusive proof..IMHO

[Rawnthai]

I call “BULLSHIT”.   I’ve lived in Thailand for 20 years.  Have eaten from some of the seediest spots all around the country.   Never been sick.  Rarely even heard of anyone getting sick.  Chances are great it was something else from somewhere else.

[tandor]

16 minutes 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...

...really!...do you also think Chili kills bacteria?

[manarak]

Author and publisher of the article should be prosecuted for defamation, because of poor subject matter research.

 

The parasite needs 2 to 3 weeks before it could become harmful.

 

It's more prevalent in developed countries than in poor countries.

 

They could as well have contracted it in Australia.

 

 

[tandor]

23 minutes ago, chilli42 said:

Plenty of food in Thailand has parasites ... Som Tam with those bits of crab for instance.  Sometimes it’s not the food itself.  A cook who has parasites can pass to you if they don’t wash properly after a bowl movement etc. I have the whole family take a double course of anti parasitic meds every 6 months. 

...so you take meds for which particular parasite?...so if you pick up a different parasite you could be in trouble, yes!

[elektrified]

I call BS on this story.

[sotonowl]

4 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

she still asks me with uncertainty after 12 years of marriage, "is ok"

Mines the same.????????????

[Catoni]

"Mr Prigg also vowed never to go back to Thailand, saying: “I won't go back, yeah life changing, I won't go back – ever”."

 

  That's crazy.... you can get Dientamoeba Fragilis almost anywhere in the world... including Los Angeles, California and even ... get this.... in his own country of Australia.  

 

    I got horrible food poisoning in Toronto, Canada one time from eating a macaroni salad from an open air market vendor.  Throwing up and diarrhea and painful stomach like crazy....  felt like I wanted to die to end the suffering. 

     But it never stopped me from going back to Toronto. 

 

Dientamoeba fragilis has an estimated prevalence throughout the United States. Unlike majority of parasitic infections, D. fragilis is more prevalent in well-developed countries as opposed to disadvantaged and resource poor nations.The parasite is also endemic in crowded communities (i.e institutions), populations with unsatisfactory sanitation conditions, and individuals who travel to underprivileged countries. Globally, the prevalence of D. fragilis ranges from 0.3% to 90%, occurring in multiple countries including many urbanized cities such as Los Angeles, California and Sydney, Australia. Recently, D. fragilis was considered to be more prevalent than Giardia, thus leading to better diagnostics.

Ref: Wikipedia

1.  Mack, David. "Dientamoeba Fragilis Infection". Emedicine Medscape. 

2.  Ali Elbakri; Ahmed Al-Qahtani; Amidou Samie (2015). "An Overview of Tropical Diseases".

[Helmet Grunter]

I've had the Tex Ritters a few times 

[Catoni]

13 minutes ago, tandor said:

...so you take meds for which particular parasite?...so if you pick up a different parasite you could be in trouble, yes!

A general anti-parasitic medication will take care of many.....  not all .... but many various parasites.   He's probably covering about 70% of parasites if he and his family are taking a general anti-parasitic. 

    Now of course that is not total 100% protection from all possible parasites.  But it's not bad.. 

[connda]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

After repeated visits to the doctor to try and establish what was wrong with them, tests revealed that they had contracted Dientamoeba Fragilis, a dangerous parasite, which they claim was caught from the Pad Thai dish they had eaten at a food court in Thailand.

Ok prove it.  Actually come to Thailand and make that claim in front of a camera in front of the food court.  Then wait for the defamation charges.  The fact is, they have absolutely no idea where they contracted the parasite.  

[spidermike007]

Always be cautious of seafood that has been left out for extended periods. If t can be deadly. Smell it. Check it out. Don’t just assume it is fresh! Or go vegetarian.

[Helmet Grunter]

19 minutes ago, tandor said:

...so you take meds for which particular parasite?...so if you pick up a different parasite you could be in trouble, yes!

There is a one tablet kills all available

[expatfromwyoming]

 

 

 

Mr Prigg also vowed never to go back to Thailand, saying: “I won't go back, yeah life changing, I won't go back – ever”.  GOOD NEWS THAT IS

He certainly is well named-Prigg

 

Newsflash Prigg - Dientamoeba Fragilis is widespread worldwide- even Australia. 

[fordguy61mi]

I got deathly ill at a food court at Hat Yai airport. It was some seafood. By the time arrived in Bangkok I could hardly keep from vomiting. Got off the plane and immediately went to a restroom where I commenced emptying the contents of my body from both ends. It was horrible. Lasted about a day.

[longklong]

Maybe it affected their brain first and stirred up all the prejudice within!

[Catoni]

4 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I'll tell you what, you're not wrong. Twice now I've got food poisoning and on both occasions it was on Emirates travelling first ????

 

I would of thought a pad thai was fairly safe as it's cooked in hot oil which would probably kill most of the bacteria.

 

 

   Worse case of food poisoning I ever had ...I got at an open air fair and market in Toronto, Canada... a first world advanced country. I ate macaroni salad made with mayonaise from one of the vendors.

           Throwing up and diarrhea like crazy...  very painful stomach....  The thought that dying might be better than the suffering I was going through actually occured to me. That's how bad it was.  

  Half a year in the tropics in Thailand and Cambodia over two trips.. even visiting isolated poverty stricken areas and sharing the poor villager's food with them.... I never got sick at all.  

         Having taken two doses of Dukoral oral vaccine three weeks apart before getting on the plane for each trip might have given me effective protection against things like Cholera and E.Coli bacterial infection from food and water. 

[observer90210]

I have seen farangs shell out hundreds of $ or € in an evening for booze and the girls....but getting real stingy the next day when it came to eat in a decent place...

[toofarnorth]

4 hours ago, BobbyL said:

It is great how two years later they can specifically say it was the Pad Thai. Did they keep their stools after that meal as evidence?

Stainless steel stools where I had padthai moo today.

[Catoni]

5 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I'll tell you what, you're not wrong. Twice now I've got food poisoning and on both occasions it was on Emirates travelling first ????

 

I would of thought a pad thai was fairly safe as it's cooked in hot oil which would probably kill most of the bacteria.

 

 

  I would have thought the same thing...  the hot oil and hot water used by most street vendors should kill parasites.  I would've thought that street vendors are pretty safe.  I've never gotten sick from them. 

[FarFlungFalang]

12 minutes ago, Helmet Grunter said:

There is a one tablet kills all available

You mean kill all parasites?Will it work on the current Government/Junta?

[Catoni]

4 hours ago, ChipButty said:

You forgot Mayonnaise a young girl some years ago thought she would stay safe and just eat chips and mayonnaise she didn't manage to get home 

  Mayonnaise goes bad quickly.   You can't leave that stuff sitting around without refridgeration. 

    That's what got me in Toronto, Canada.  Horribly sick and painful stomach with throwing up and diarrhea. 

  Never got sick in Thailand or Cambodia.  

[Almer]

5 hours ago, Chelseafan said:

I'll tell you what, you're not wrong. Twice now I've got food poisoning and on both occasions it was on Emirates travelling first ????

 

I would of thought a pad thai was fairly safe as it's cooked in hot oil which would probably kill most of the bacteria.

 

 

Thats going to upset Emerates 

[Catoni]

4 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.

  The speed at which food poisoning hits you depends on what it is in the food that gives you food poisoning.  There many parasites and bacterias that can cause it.  Some of them work quicker than others. 

  Five of the most common bacteria types that can give you food poisoning are Salmonella, Listeria, E.coli 0157, Campylobacter and Clostridium perfringens.   There are also amoeba parasites like Giardia that make you sick with diarrhea and throwing up. 

   Lots of things can give you food poisoning....  and they can work quicker or slower than others.  

   Then again.. some people's bodies have a higher natural resistance to them than other people

[Suradit69]

4 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Thai's are generally not clean when it comes to cooking or hygiene, believe you me, 

Presumably all of us eat Thai food regularly or at least food prepared by Thais, and yet a few individuals seem to think they alone have any experience doing so. Twenty years here and I've only had a couple bad reactions ... one of which followed a meal at an American franchise fast food restaurant.

Worst travel experience was after eating a hamburger at Gatwick before boarding a flight to southern  Africa. A long flight that seemed endless on that occasion.

 

As to hygiene, Thais certainly score better than quite a few farang I've been downwind from.

[Catoni]

4 hours ago, ezzra said:

It's unfair and premature to rubbish a whole country just because they claim they got sick from one dish, parasite can be picked up just about anywhere unsanitary and when you're traveling, there are many such places, to me it looks like sour grapes not happy with Thailand and take it out on a country with 40 million visitors a year with a very little health issues...

  That parasite they got......  guess what ! !   It is also found in their own country of Australia... and also in many places in the world.  Including Los Angeles, California.  

    Not just Thailand...

[Lacessit]

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Reporter forgot to add  "found in the gastrointestinal tract of some humans, pigs and gorillas" 

 

So as Pad Thai doesn't contain pork? 

It can contain pork, chicken or shrimps, depending on what one specifies.

[captainhornblower]

4 hours ago, lannarebirth said:

I've had food poisoning  exactly twice in Thailand. Both times after eating the same dish, Hoy Tod. It's  freaking delicious, but doesn't  seem to agree with me. Signs arose within the hour, vomitting, then all well. Imay giveit another go next time I'm back.

 

All shellfish are essentially water filters - that is how they get their nutrients to survive. The seawater is sucked in, passes through their digestive system and the waste is then flushed out. Of all seafood they are the most risky to eat because they retain a lot of stuff that is not good for people - cholera being one nasty aspect that one can catch from them.

 

In 24 years of living here I have been sick due to food a handful of times but the 2 worst were with shellfish. Haven't eaten them anywhere in the world for around 15 years now.

 

One of the worst places used to be the bay of Naples due to the untreated sewage that flowed into it but this was cleaned up some years ago now.

 

Thailand has a long way to go on that front sadly.

 

 

[Dancin Dna 11]

5 hours ago, sammieuk1 said:

Looks like they ate some pad die by mistake????

Dad jokes are the best!

 

[flyingtlger]

Fake news!