Rare bacteria blamed for death of mother and daughter in Bali
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Version 0 of 1. An Australian mother and daughter who died in Bali in January appear to have contracted a rare form of food poisoning, the family has been told. An autopsy was conducted in Australia on the bodies of Noelene Bischoff and her 14-year-old daughter Yvana, who died after eating eating fish at a restaurant. Bischoff’s brother Malcolm said in preliminary findings the pathologists who conducted the autopsy found that they had been killed by a rare bacteria and the fact that both were asthmatic may have contributed to their reaction to it. "It's just one in millions of chance that that could all come together for that to happen with two people at the same time," he said. It's understood the bacteria led to a condition known as "scombroid poisoning". Bischoff said the pathologists thought the pair might not have survived had they had become ill in Australia because of the rarity of the bacteria. "More than likely it wouldn't have been diagnosed here anyway, so more than likely the same result would have happened," he said. He said the pathologists believed the bacteria could have been isolated to the part of the fish they ate. "There's a few governing factors,” he said. “The age of the fillet and also the handling through filleting. Any part of the fillet that is close to the intestines could have a greater concentration of this scombroid bacteria. "It is also possible that other people ate pieces of the fish further away from that that may have been fine." Bischoff said the federal government should update their travel advice with warnings about food poisoning in Bali. "Any overseas travel in a third world country is dangerous to some point," he said. "It's probably just the luck of the draw who gets what where." |