Typhoid death: Ministry of Health failed us, says woman's family after even undertaker not told

The extended family of a woman who died after contracting typhoid only found out about her condition through a media report the day after her funeral. Photo / NZME

The family of the 52-year-old woman who died after contracting typhoid are calling the handling of the outbreak "a failure".

The Mount Roskill woman, who died on March 28, was hospitalised with serious health issues and the typhoid infection was a complicating factor.

Family spokesman Jerome Mika told Radio New Zealand many of the woman's extended family, friends and church family were not aware she had died from typhoid until a media release was issued this morning - the day after the funeral.

"I think the Ministry of Health have failed, not only the immediate family but the extended family. In terms of Samoan protocol, even for people not to be notified that the deceased had passed away as a result of typhoid, there were no precautions or anything to make people aware of that. From what I understand even the undertaker wasn't aware that the person had died of typhoid.

"We're still trying to understand the extent of whether people have been exposed to typhoid."

He said family members and friends who visited the woman in hospital were going to their doctors to ensure they too were not infected.

"We're not sure how far or how widespread this has gone in terms of the family and the extended family," he said.

Auckland Regional Public Health Service Clinical Director Dr Julia Peters told Radio New Zealand the doctors dealing with the woman's case would have spoken to family at the hospital to inform them of her condition and it was up to them to pass that on to other family and friends.

She said the service had been dealing with the pastor of the church attended by the woman to ascertain who else may have come into contact with her, and agreed to hold off fully engaging with church members until after the funeral.

"I was comfortable that giving the church that time to go through the burial process was okay."

Today she confirmed 15 people had been hospitalised with the illness and were all members of a Samoan Assembly of God church which met in Mount Roskill but did not have its own building.

The woman's death was only made public yesterday - more than three days after the first news of a typhoid outbreak, and a week after her death.

Two more possible cases had yesterday been identified and were pending official test results.

Peters also defended the decision to wait a week before publically revealing a person had died.

"It was really around sensitivity for the family and the church community. It's much easier for them and for us to work with them when they are able to talk to us in a calm manner and interact about the outbreak and get the funeral arranged and concluded without feeling pressured by a lot of external attention," she said.

Peters said a group of cases emerged about the same time late last week so it seemed likely they had been infected at the same time or place.

Those confirmed to have the disease were in isolation in several Auckland hospitals but some had already been treated and released.

"We are working with the church to trace other people who may be infected and we are doing this while they are mourning the loss of one of their own," she said.

"Most people can be reassured because we have a good idea of the community and the venue in which the outbreak has arisen, so that should be reassuring to a lot of Aucklanders."

The public health service was still working out when the disease was brought into the country and by who because those receiving treatment all appeared to have contracted the illness locally.

She said people should make sure they washed and dried their hands well after going to the toilet and before preparing food to stop the spread of diseases like typhoid.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman said there was no wider risk to the public.

"The advice I've had around this is that it's not a waterborne outbreak.

"Someone has come back from the Pacific Islands with the disease and then it's been passed person-to-person."

Coleman also suggested the health service should have released details about the death more quickly.

"There's probably some communications issues that they need to take on board from this whole episode," he said.

"It would be good to release information in a timely and appropriate manner, but there may be reasons why they didn't release it sooner."

What is typhoid?

• Typhoid Fever is a disease caused by the bacterium (germ) Salmonella Typhi. Most cases in New Zealand have been caught during travel overseas, especially in tropical countries.
• Once you are infected it usually takes 1 - 3 weeks for symptoms to develop.
• Salmonella Typhi live only in humans. Persons with typhoid fever carry the bacteria in their bloodstream and intestinal tract. Some people recover from typhoid fever but continue to carry the bacteria. Both ill people and carriers pass the bacteria in their faeces (poos). You can get typhoid fever if you eat food and drink beverages that have been handled by a person with the bacteria.
• The illness starts slowly with fevers, chills (feeling cold and shivery), pain in the stomach, headache, feeling unwell, not wanting to eat, a dry cough, and sometimes a rash of pink spots on the chest and abdomen.
Source: Regional Public Health