Family comatose after eating wild pig
Three family members are in hospital, two in a vegetative state, after eating wild boar.
The Waikato family – Shibu Kochummen, 35, his wife Subi Babu, 33, and Shibu’s mother Alekutty Daniel, 62 – were found by emergency services on the floor of their Putaruru home.
Kochummen is a keen hunter and brought home a boar he had caught earlier that day, said family friend Joji Varghese.
The trio sat down to eat the boar, but within minutes, Daniel started vomiting and then collapsed. Kochummen called an ambulance, but while he was on the phone, he, too, fell to the floor.
By the time emergency services arrived last Friday, all three adults were on the floor, unresponsive.
The couple’s two young daughters, aged seven and one, were asleep in bed, Varghese said.
‘‘I’m at the hospital right now and the doctors aren’t sure what the illness is,’’ he said.
‘‘We’re waiting on a toxicology report, which is due tomorrow [November 17].’’
The family’s neighbour, who asked not to be named, has been living in the flat behind them for nine months.
She and her husband were asleep when ambulance staff knocked on their door.
‘‘They said three adults were sick and asked us to take care of the children,’’ the neighbour said.
‘‘When we went in there, Shibu, his mother and his wife were in no position to speak, so we had no clarity of what happened.
‘‘The grandmother was sitting close to the bed vomiting and the ambulance officer was seeing to her and, in the other room, Shibu was sitting on the bed but he was not in a stable position and was sliding down.
‘‘They were trying to speak, their lips were moving, but nothing was clear.’’
She said it had been very upsetting.
‘‘Before my husband and daughter came over three months ago, I was here by myself and they treated me like a sister.
‘‘I’d talk to them every day, but now it is very lonely. I am just praying for them.’’
The neighbour has visited the family in hospital.
‘‘I don’t know their condition now, but at the time the grandmother was able to speak a bit and she was trying to open her eyelids, but she was still very weak,’’ she said.
‘‘She is the only one that has been able to open her mouth, though, because even though Shibu is out of ICU and in the
ward, he hasn’t been able to speak. They both have movement in their arms and legs, but there is still stiffness.’’
The Waikato District Health Board is investigating the cause of the illness and wild pork meat is one possibility, said Medical Officer of Health Richard Vipond.
‘‘We do not have any evidence to determine any broader contaminated game meat, or that there is a risk to public health; however, I would encourage anyone who is hunting or handling game meat to follow guidelines as set out by MPI.’’
But the director of the National Poisons Centre, Adam Pomerleau,
said initial reports suggest the family contracted a food-borne illness. And high on his list of suspected diseases is botulism.
However, symptoms would usually present in a matter of hours, as opposed to minutes.
He said cases are fairly uncommon, but can occur under the right conditions: a warm environment with low oxygen.
Botulism can be found in soil and even if contaminated meat is cooked, the toxin can survive.
The American doctor treated patients with botulism at his previous job in Atlanta, where he specialised in emergency medicine and medical toxicology.
He says botulism can be treated with an anti-toxin, but he was not sure whether New Zealand hospitals had it at their disposal.
Even after treatment, it can take months to recover, as the toxin damages the nerve cells.
The last known case of botulism in New Zealand was in 1983.
Yesterday afternoon, Kochummen and his mum Daniel were stable on a ward, but Babu was in a serious condition in the hospital’s high-dependency unit.
Varghese said the boar had been taken away for testing and it was the only item of food the children did not eat.
He met the family through church and has known them since they moved to New Zealand from India five years ago.
They lived in Tokoroa for three years before moving to Putaruru last year.
Kochummen worked at the Stihl shop in Putaruru and his wife worked in a rest home.
‘‘The initial reports are that the illness will leave lasting disabilities,’’ Varghese said.
‘‘The Indian High Commission have stepped in big time and will make sure there are no problems for family who wish to come [from India].’’
The children are being cared
for by members of the Hamilton Marthoma congregation.
The younger daughter is unaware of what is going on, but the seven-year-old has been quite upset. Varghese said any donations to help, especially for the extended family, who he expects will arrive from India in the coming days – such as food, accommodation or funds for necessities – can be dropped into the Cathedral Church of St Peter on Victoria Street in Hamilton.
The Ministry for Primary Industries was notified of the incident and is working with the Waikato DHB to investigate, an MPI spokesman said.
‘‘We do not have any evidence to determine any broader contaminated game meat, or that there is a risk to public health . . .’’
Waikato DHB Medical Officer of Health Richard Vipond