Thailand

Phuket Gazette: Salmonella strain might reinfect kids

Published

9 years ago

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Legacy Phuket Gazette

Phuket Gazette: Salmonella strain might reinfect kids | The Thaiger

PHUKET MEDIA WATCH

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

Salmonella strain might reinfect kids

Phuket Gazette / The Nation

PHUKET: A drug-resistant strain of Salmonella bacteria, found in eggs causing 500 schoolchildren to fall ill, might continue lingering and re-infect them for another three months.

The provincial health office will send a team to tackle the situation and set food-safety measures at all schools in Chiangmai, especially those that take boarders. The authorities insist that Salmonella-infected eggs have not hit the general markets.

After several cases of severe diarrhoea were reported at Suksa Songkhro Chiang Mai School on Monday, more students were admitted at nine hospitals in the province, bringing the number of hospitalised children up to 500 as of yesterday morning. Though 367 were discharged, 127 are still in hospital for septicaemia, which requires the strongest type of antibiotics.

A 17-year-old schoolgirl suffered from shock due to severe septicaemia and low blood pressure.

Chiangmai health official Dr Wattana Kanchanamol said lab tests confirmed that the diarrhoea had been caused by a strain of Salmonella bacteria which is drug resistant because antibiotics had been mixed into chicken feed. The bacteria, living on fowl faeces, contaminated the eggs, he explained.

He estimated that 300 of the 10,000 eggs donated to the school were found to be carrying the bacteria, adding that 26 of the patients have already had a relapse and nine had to be hospitalised.

Dr Wattana said that though the bacteria’s 72-hour incubation period has passed, the children would be carrying the bacteria for another three months; hence they might have a relapse or infect others.

A medical team has interviewed the donor’s family and collected samples of their faeces to see if they might be carrying the bacteria, he said, declining to reveal the donor’s identity on grounds that the donation had been made with good intentions. Meanwhile, livestock officials were dispatched to inspect a chicken farm in Hang Dong district, he added.

Dr Wattana said the donor family had boiled the eggs on Friday and Saturday but instead of refrigerating them, they had stored them on egg trays. On Sunday, they presented the eggs as an offering to the Kruba Sriwichai Monument and later delivered them to schools to serve with dinner the same evening.

Some of the eggs also went to nine agencies and a community, and when a student from the Northern Region School for the Blind became ill after eating an egg, authorities managed to alert the donation receivers to get rid of the eggs.

Saying the outbreak had not affected the markets or the public at large, Dr Wattana urged people to ensure that all eggs are properly cooked before consumption, and that they are always kept refrigerated because Salmonella grows fast in hot weather.

— Phuket Gazette Editors

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News Categories:Thailand

Thailand

Thailand News Today | Week In Review | February 26

Published

11 mins ago

Friday, February 26, 2021

The Thaiger

Thailand News Today usually covers five days of the news week. This week only four days as today (Friday) is a public holiday. Now we have a weekend edition which goes over the biggest, or best stories, from the past week. Out every Saturday afternoon, catch up with Jett and Tim’s major Thai news stories. Welcome to the Thailand News Today Week in Review. Tim and Jett give you a quick recap of the main news stories.

To get all the latest news and information about Thailand, go to https://thethaiger.com. Like and subscribe our YouTube channel too. Go on, right now 🙂

You can also LIKE our Facebook page https://facebook.com/thethaigernews to get even more information about Thailand.

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Thailand

45 new cases today, 37 local‐Covid‐19‐Update

Published

1 hour ago

Friday, February 26, 2021

Ann Carter

45 new cases today, 37 local‐Covid‐19‐Update | The Thaiger

Thailand reports 45 new cases of Covid-19cases today, with 37 infections being locally-transmitted. 8 of those infections were imported, raising the total amount of infections since the pandemic began to 25,809.

The Department of Disease Control reports that 32 cases were confirmed at hospitals with 5 confirmed through active case finding in communities.

Samut Sakhon province, the 2nd wave epicentre, reported over half of the new cases at 19. 14 of those cases were confirmed at hospitals and 5 were detected in Myanmar communities. Bangkok has reported 3 new cases, Nakhon Nayok reported 5, Chai Nat 3, Nakhon Pathom 3, Saraburi 2, Prachuap Khiri Khan 1, and Samut Prakan 1.

The 8 imported cases were those under quarantine arriving from Pakistan, Bangladesh, the UK, Germany, France, The Netherlands, and Kuwait. The case from the UK was that of a 6 year old Thai schoolgirl.

Globally, Covid-19 cases rose by 444,466 over the past day to 113.54 million. The worldwide death toll increased by 10,552 to 2.52 million. The United States still has the most cases at 29.5 million, with the most deaths at 520,785.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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Tourism

Surveys show Thailand still one of the top holiday choices post-pandemic

Published

7 hours ago

Friday, February 26, 2021

Maya Taylor

Surveys show Thailand still one of the top holiday choices post-pandemic | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Jakob Owens on Unsplash

The Stockholm office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand has conducted a survey in which 62% of respondents say they want to spend winter in Thailand provided restrictions are lifted. The top destinations are Phuket, Krabi and Khao Lak, followed by Koh Samui, Koh Pha-ngan, Koh Tao, Bangkok, and Hua Hin.

68% say they would cancel bookings if the 14-day quarantine remains in place. 26% say they would still go ahead, and 13% said they’d be in favour of quarantine being cut to 10 days. 99% of participants say they would be worried about testing positive for Covid-19 after travel plans have been made.

Meanwhile, the TAT’s London office has also been busy, carrying out a survey in conjunction with market research firm, YouGov. The idea behind the survey was to get an idea of the future of tourism once the pandemic is over.

4,127 people took part, with 75% of them saying they’re prepared to be vaccinated if it’s required for travel. 41% are against mandatory quarantine, although 52% would accept a 5-day quarantine. 62% of those planning holidays are over the age of 50 and interested in countries with low infection rates.

According to a Nation Thailand report, Siripakorn Cheawsamoot from the TAT says the findings of the survey indicate that up to 6 million people are interested in travelling to Thailand at some point this year.

Meanwhile, a number of online travel agency platforms in France have also carried out a survey. The poll, conducted by companies such as Go Voy, Opodo, and eDreams, showed that the number of hits to tourism-related websites rose by 15% once the success of Covid-19 vaccines was announced. The top destinations searched for were Dubai at 49%, Marrakesh at 27%, and Bangkok at 25%.

Another travel survey in the Americas found that most holidaymakers have chosen to postpone their trips by 7 months to a year, rather than cancelling completely. Siripakorn says that booking flexibility is a priority for Americans.

“Flexibility to reschedule is the top priority for American tourists, followed by safety. These tourists are looking for safety, no quarantine, flexibility, and no deposit.”

Meanwhile, a report issued by Skift Research shows that travel will not recover until 2023 and will not return to pre-pandemic levels until 2025.

SOURCE: Nation Thailand

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