As many as 33 of the patients were still on respirators.

The ministry's acting permanent secretary Prat Boonyawongvirot and his team flew from Bangkok to Nan yesterday morning to deliver the much-needed vaccine, which arrived from Britain earlier the same day.

It was the first time the botulism anti-toxin has been imported into Thailand.

Nan public health chief Dr Pisit Sriprasert said botulism is fatal in up to 60 per cent of cases. Those who survive take months to fully recover, he said.

"Now, we have vaccine for 20 patients only," Pisit said.

However, he was hopeful that more doses would arrive soon, as the World Health Organisation had agreed to help collect the vaccine from various sources, mostly military camps in the United States.

According to Pisit, the symptoms of botulism include stomach-ache, parched lips, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing and blurred vision.

All 143 of the botulism patients were admitted to Nan Hospital last Tuesday after eating bamboo-shoot dishes at a merit-marking ceremony held by the Tambon Pakha Administrative Organisation.

Suphan Jankhiew, one of the patients, said the organisation bought the bamboo shoots from a housewives' group, of which she was a member.

"They came from leftover, unsold containers. Before I handed them over to the organisation's cook, I tasted one and it seemed to taste different from usual. But the cook said that so far everything was okay," she said.

However, Suphan said, that single piece of bamboo shoot sent her to the hospital with stiffness of the tongue, vomiting and flatulence.

On Saturday night, a military helicopter delivered 15 respirators from various hospitals to Nan Hospital, which did not have enough of the respiratory machines.

The helicopter remained on standby at the hospital in case patients needed to be transferred to other facilities.

The Nation

Nan