Australian Student Poisoned by Superwarfarin

Sounds horrific, anyone have any further information?

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Saw the news, and people on PTT was trying to figure out who said this because there’s no way in hell you’d accidentally eat rat poison in a restaurant.

One comment said that it’s possible the guy wanted to stay in Taiwan but had no legal way to do so, and so tried to commit suicide by eating rat poison. The comment says that this is not uncommon.

There are droves of foreigners committing suicide because they don’t want to leave Taiwan? Do you honestly believe that?

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I’m not saying this is true, but this is what some of those comment suggested.

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How much rat poison is needed to cause these symptoms in an adult? Unlikely that this comes from some dodgy night market food.

(澳洲交換生疑誤食老鼠藥轉普通病房 稱無關街頭小吃)

It seems the patient said it wasn’t from night market food, just that his parent made the assumption without any proof.

You have to consume massive quantities of the stuff to have any effect, rat poison is designed for rats with small body weights. There is no way minute quantities that might end up in night market food can produce any symptoms.

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He’s Australian, could have stayed rather easily. Maybe someone with a crush on him did it so he has to stay.

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He was transferred to the general ward from the ICU yesterday and is now in a stable state.

His family has already raised over AUD200K on gofundme to have him flown back on a medical charter flight with an ICU team. He also said it probably had nothing to do with night market food.

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Focus Taiwan has a report on this awful case. Even the premier Chen Chien-jen has commented on it.

Guy

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Fucking hell. Some Taiwanese really do think that Taiwan is so good that people would eat rat poison and be buried here rather than go back to that third world country of Australia?

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I don’t wish to prejudice an open investigation but this smells like heartbreak to me.

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I’m with @BigDave on this point. Post-COVID restrictions, it’s ludicrously easy for so-called “strong” passport holders—including Australian passport holders—to enter Taiwan following a visa run. You can even get NT$5000 for it!

Guy

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Perhaps literally, given the impact of ingesting rat poison. :neutral_face:

Guy

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Warfarin is a slow-acting rodenticide so you should expect multiple feedings by the rodent before they die. They will need at least 2 or 3 nights of consuming the bait to build up a lethal dose and another 4 days for the active ingredient to slowly kill the rodent .

If a rat has to eat the stuff over many days to build up a lethal dose, I would say the street food being the cause is out.

Now the question is: was someone slowly poisoning him?

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I’m not sure who the mod is for the Open Forum, so I’ll just @TempoGain or @Marco or @Slawa: maybe change the title of the thread to cut out the final “Street Food?!”, since that no longer seems to be a going theory.

(I can do that myself, but I’m unclear on whether or not I’m supposed to do such things …)

EDIT: Thanks!

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Your wish has evidently been someone’s command!

Guy

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CDC | Case Definition: “Super Warfarin” Poisoning

After an acute unintentional ingestion of a long-acting anticoagulant, the majority of patients are entirely asymptomatic. After a substantial ingestion of a long-acting anticoagulant, clinical signs of coagulopathy typically occur within 24-72 hours.

This 2nd scenario seems more plausible: “substantial ingestion”.

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Lol PTT has been moron central for years.

Anyway I think he was probably poisoned by someone who hates him.

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But how would he have a substantial ingestion? What circumstances? Downing beer? Mixed in with something else?

Why would the family try to fly him back on a private jet with an ICU team, which costs AUD170K minimum and is being funded by donations, when he’s been transferred to the general ward and seems to be in a stable condition?? The narrative on the gofundme page was that he had local food laced with rat poison, which he and the hospital said was unlikely :thinking:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/uq-student-poisoned-on-scholarship-exchange