The meat of the matter

Wanna* was looking forward to a party with her friends at home and preparing sliced pork for a BBQ hotpot. However, little did she realise that the simple preparation process could send her into a coma.

The 49-year-old lecturer from a university in Phitsanulok province passed away a few days later after being diagnosed with a deadly infection caused by a bacteria known as Streptococcus suis. Prior to her death, she had diarrhoea and vomiting and was sent to a hospital where she also started suffering from bone pain, shivering and later kidney failure and septicaemia.

Wanna’s death made headlines recently and raised questions if handling raw meat could be potentially detrimental to health, especially now that more people are cooking at home due to Covid-19 fears. Yet, it turned out that Wanna had an open wound on…