NURDINI MOHAMAD ALI SUFFERED VOMITING AND DIARRHOEA DUE TO FOOD POISONING, WHICH LED TO SEVERE DEHYDRATION.

'Girl died of severe dehydration'

KUALA LUMPUR 2011/08/19: The death of a 11-year-old girl in Meru, Klang, last week was caused by severe dehydration.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Hasan Abdul Rahman said Nurdini Mohamad Alisuffered vomiting and diarrhoea due to food poisoning, which led to severe dehydration.

"This caused a condition where her organs could not take it and led to a failure known as a hypovolemic shock," he said yesterday.

Members of her family were admitted to Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital when they showed similar symptoms after breaking fast with otak-otak and ais batu campur (ABC) bought from a stall at a Ramadan bazaar near their house in Taman Seri Mewah, Fasa 2, Meru.

He said 152 stalls at the bazaar were inspected and three were closed, including the otak-otak, ABC and ayam panggang stalls.

Dr Hasan said the ABC sample taken from the bazaar was positive for salmonella and the ice was contaminated with bacillus cereus emetic toxin.

"This bacteria can cause vomiting and diarrhoea leading to severe dehydration and if not treated early can lead to death."

Dr Hasan said two of Nurdini's siblings and the family's maid were tested positive for the salmonella bacteria.

Meanwhile, random checks on the food and drinks sold at 47 Ramadan bazaars in the city showed that 19 per cent of the food was contaminated.

The contaminated food included kuih sago, tepung pelita, ketayap, popiah basah (raw popiah), seri muka, and nasi lemak sambal while the drinks included soya bean, watermelon, corn and rose syrup

City Hall health director Dr Sallehudin Abu Bakar said 53 out of the 278 food samples tested were contaminated with E-coli, coliform and staphylococcus aureus due to poor personal and food handling hygiene

E-coli is caused by faecal contamination, and staphylococcus aureus can be transmitted via the skin while coliform is a proxy bacteria which can be found everywhere.

"The contamination showed that the traders did not wash properly after going to the toilet, handled food with their bare hands and did not cover the food and drinks."