Woman dies of suspected food poisoning in Phuket

[webfact]

Woman dies of suspected food poisoning in Phuket
Eakkapop Thongtub

PHUKET: -- Doctors at Patong hospital are to carry out an autopsy to pin down the cause of death after a Thai woman died yesterday morning (August 4), the apparent victim of food poisoning.

Dutch expatriate Hans Lehner, 68, called police at about 10 am, after he found his partner, Pranee Srijam, dead in bed at their home in Nanai Rd, Patong. Investigators estimated the time of death as being about three hours earlier. There were no signs of violence, they noted.

Mr Lehner said he and Ms Pranee, 38, from Yasothorn province, had lived together for about a year.

On Saturday night she went out to buy Somtam Pla Ra (papaya salad with pickled fish). After eating it she suffered from severe diarrhoea. Eventually, he said, she fell asleep, while he watched television.

In the morning, he made coffee and then called her to join him. Hearing no response, he went to wake her but found her already dead.

The Phuket Provincial Public Health Department declined to comment on the case until tests on Ms Pranee have been completed. Eakkapop Thongtub

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/women-dies-of-suspected-phuket-food-poisoning-41200.php


-- Phuket News 2013-08-05

[laurentbkk]

Very strange story .... I knew Som Tam can be strong but never imagined it could be deadly. RIP

[Valentine]

I feel you dice with food poisoning here every time you eat out no matter where it is. However I also feel we become more immune to some of the nasties which cause food poisoning the longer we are here. I used to get it quite a lot in the early days but hardly ever now although a friend always suggested it came from kissing the wrong ice cube.

[TomTao]

Poor lady, that must have been some potent food poisoning bugs in that som tum, the article doesn't say whether her partner offered to take her to the hospital or not, but it must have been quite a shock for him to find her dead. Condolences to the gentleman and her family.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[nachiket]

R.I.P. the soul. My deepest condolences to her family.

------------------------

It will matter what fish sauce you are using.

Some local made fish sauce gets contaminated while preparing with several toxins as greedy vendors never bother about quality of product.

Edited August 5, 2013 by nachiket

[dudu]

Thais have a strong stomachs, strange no one else has ill effects or have not reported it, or was she the only customer all day? RIP

[Gsxrnz]

It's the pickled fermented fish, the "Bpa-laa" that does it. Some of the contents are literally decades old. The smellier it is the more they like it.

[ableguy]

Poor lady, that must have been some potent food poisoning bugs in that som tum, the article doesn't say whether her partner offered to take her to the hospital or not, but it must have been quite a shock for him to find her dead. Condolences to the gentleman and her family.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Pretty sure it came from the pla ra ( stinking fermented fish ) its well known here if home made useing vinegar it can be deadly so my Issan gf tells me,

Had food poisening twice here both times from eating a burger in two seperate hotels in bangkok, in hospital 6 days rach time dresdful pain bumrumgrad hospital. I would not wish this on my worst enemy,

[SOTIRIOS]

.........better know when the food vendor opens....... and closes shop......

....and if they sell regularly.....or if there is a chance it sits for a long time...like all day...or even until the next day....

(....I've also heard of cases where some people don't change their frying oil for months......)

[Bkungbank]

Pufferfish sometimes mistakenly mixed inside Pla Ra to fermentation which very poisionous can kill up to 50 people single fish.

[dao16]

Using puffer fish for bala? Wow....that is scary, but it would seem like that would be a waste of a pretty expensive fish (Korean and Japanese...Chinese, too, I think, pay a lot for that soup).

Anyway, makes me wonder if the bala wasn't fermented properly. Like the fish that were used were really rotten at first and not put into the fermenting process when they were still good. It can last for ages as it is fermented. It does stink to high heaven but it tastes good in dishes. I eat something with bala in it almost every day (guess what part of the country I live in) and I have never had any problems outside of the normal cases of slippery bowel that most foreigners experience.

[slipperylobster]

Fevers are common with extreme food poisoning. I had it in Hawaii and my fever went up all night, convulsing and such. Called for an ambulance and they told me to just have a friend take me. My wife took my temperature every hour, and it did peak out at 103F and then went down to 102F. Anything higher, and you should be in an emergency room. I don't know what she had, but I do wonder why she did not develop a fever. Perhaps a different type of food poisoning.

[tuky]

You could set your clock by my ex-wife. 30 minutes after eating somtam she was on the toilet giving the old back door blow.

Every time.

minute 1: Ooh sapicy

minute 5: Ooh Aah

minute 10: oui jep

minute 30: enough said.

They mustn't sleep in the same room.

[webfact]

UPDATE:
Heart failure 'most likely' in Phuket 'somtam' death
Naraporn Tuarob

PHUKET: -- Doctors are leaning towards heart failure as the likely cause after a woman died on Sunday morning (August 4), the apparent victim of food poisoning.

Dutch expatriate Hans Lehner, 68, called police after he found his partner, Pranee Srijam, dead in bed at their home in Nanai Rd, Patong.

Mr Lehner said that on Saturday night Miss Pranee, 38, from Yasothorn, ate somtam plara (papaya salad with pickled fish). After eating it she suffered from severe diarrhoea.

Eventually, she fell asleep but in the morning he found her dead.

Dr Bancha Kakong, Chief Public Health Officer, told The Phuket News today (August 8) that no autopsy had yet been done because of difficulty contacting Ms Pranee’s family, but that an initial examination indicated heart failure as the most likely cause of her death.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/heart-failure-most-likely-in-phuket-somtam-death-41277.php


-- Phuket News 2013-08-08

[NamKangMan]

"After eating it she suffered from severe diarrhoea." - I had no idea that "severe diarrhoea" is a symptom of an impending heart attack, especially for a 38 year old female.

RIP.

[Pimay1]

"After eating it she suffered from severe diarrhoea." - I had no idea that "severe diarrhoea" is a symptom of an impending heart attack, especially for a 38 year old female.

RIP.

The following is taken from the American Heart Association website. No mention of severe diarrhoea.

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/HeartAttack/WarningSignsofaHeartAttack/Heart-Attack-Symptoms-in-Women_UCM_436448_Article.jsp

Heart Attack Signs in Women

1. Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back.
2. Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
3. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
4. Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
5. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort. But women are somewhat more likely than men to experience some of the other common symptoms, particularly shortness of breath, nausea/vomiting and back or jaw pain.