Two British backpackers were hospitalised after a norovirus outbreak has swept through parts of Thailand.
Cora O’Mara and Sophie Silk, two friends from Essex, were staying in Ko Pha Ngan island in Thailand when they caught the virus and needed hospital treatment.
The backpacker duo have taken to TikTok to document the rapid spread of the highly infectious disease in the country, while Thailand’s Health Department has also warned people of the virus.
Cora, 23, told Metro: ‘Norovirus is everywhere. It is a jump scare, people do not want to catch it.
‘Whilst you are backpacking you do not want to be ill, you are very vulnerable.
‘I may be 23 but I want my mum right now!
‘It wrote off a whole week of us travelling. We lost a lot of money and time.’
Cora and Sophie claimed they had heard that several tourists were becoming ill with norovirus – which causes nausea, vomiting, stomachache, diarrhoea and other symptoms – when they first arrived on the island.
Despite checking out of their hostel and opting for a private room, the pair became extremely sick the following morning on December 12.
‘We were throwing up at the same time and I couldn’t keep anything down for hours so I had to get picked up by the local hospital,’ Cora, a Royal Holloway graduate, said about her trip to Phangan International Hospital.
The pair were then put on a drip and had to stay overnight to recuperate.
Cora continued: ‘Being in a hospital in Thailand was crazy, we had no idea what was being done to us.
‘They were really helpful. They looked after us from the get-go.’
Cora was charged £700 for the hospital stay, but luckily she had travel insurance to cover it.
The pair said they were weak and felt unable to socialise for a week following the illness, and so lost out on activities and plans which they had already booked.
Norovirus cases have reportedly spiked across Thailand and the backpacking community, in particular on the neighbouring island of Ko Tao.
TikTokers have described how ‘every time you see someone they are holding their stomach’ as the illness has become widespread in the travel hotspot.
Norovirus has hit other areas of the country away from backpacking resorts.
Thailand’s Department of Health has advised people to follow good hygiene practices after 1,436 students, teachers and staff at a school in Rayong province became infected with norovirus.
The department’s deputy director-general, Thiti Sawaengtham, said: ‘Norovirus can transmit among people easily via food, drinks, breath and contact with norovirus patients.’
Cora described the sense of fear among backpackers about catching the virus.
‘It felt very like Covid. We did not want to be close to other people as we did not know who had it,’ she said.
‘It has caused a bit of a scare.’
Norovirus spreads through contaminated surfaces such as tables, doors, and food, as well as through direct physical contact with an infected person.
The virus is resistant to common disinfectants, heat, and alcohol-based hand sanitisers unlike many other bacteria.
Symptoms of a norovirus infection typically appear within 12 to 48 hours and typically include severe nausea, vomiting, low fever, headache, body aches, and diarrhoea.
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