Family launch appeal for Irishman in ICU after dengue strikes at Bangkok airport

James Burke, from Limerick, was due to return to Ireland after his Thai holiday on November 19, according to the Irish Independent newspaper. He sent his family a message saying “can’t wait to get home” while in a taxi to the airport in Bangkok.

However, he collapsed before he could catch his flight and was rushed to hospital for treatment of type 2 dengue.

After losing contact with Burke for days, his two sisters finally heard from staff in his hotel that their brother was critically ill in hospital.

A Thai translator told them that medics needed to intubate Burke and place him on a ventilator as he was suffering sepsis and respiratory failure.

"He had acute kidney failure, pneumonia, a bleed on the brain and severe nerve damage,” said Margaret Creed, one of Burke’s eight siblings.

“We can't afford to go out there because we've every penny of our savings given to the hospital; it's costing 2,700 euros a day to keep James where he is,” Creed told radio station Cork 96 FM.

The family also emphasised that Burke had taken out travel insurance, but the insurers were refusing to pay medical or repatriation costs because the cover had expired by the time he reached hospital.

Burke remains in critical condition in a Bangkok intensive care unit, though he is reportedly no longer intubated. However, is still requires treatment for his sepsis and other conditions including a bleed to his brain.

Creed added that language barrier is hindering her brother from getting optimal care.

The family has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise 176,000 euros towards Burke’s medical costs and an air ambulance to get him back to Ireland.

“That is all we want for Christmas. If 100,000 people could give us 2 euros (77 baht) each we could bring him home,” Creed added.

Dengue is a mosquito-borne disease known as “breakbone fever”. Symptoms include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, skin itching and rash. Severe cases are known as dengue haemorrhagic fever, which causes bleeding, low levels of blood platelets and blood plasma leakage.