News

Couple vomited for hours before dying of mystery virus in Fiji

The young Texas couple that died on a dream vacation to Fiji sent messages to their relatives complaining of numb hands and throwing up for eight hours straight — but they seemed unaware that their mystery illness was life-threatening, according to a new report.

Michelle and David Paul, of Fort Worth, were visiting the island country late last month — and started feeling unwell the day before they were supposed to leave.

Michelle, 35, texted her parents, who live in Nevada, soon after the couple arrived in Fiji, saying that she and her husband had been violently ill.

“We are both going to doctor now,” she wrote in a message obtained by ABC News. “We have been throwing up for 8 hours. Dave has diarrhea. My hands are numb. We will text when we can.”





Once the pair returned to the hotel, Michelle sent a text to her mom, Juliet Calanog.

“We just got back from the clinic. They gave us fluids and anti-nausea drip,” Michelle Paul wrote. “They gave us electrolyte packets and anti-nausea pills. We still don’t feel 100%. Going to rest in our room.”

Calanog advised the couple to “slow down.”

“Take care,” she added, according to the report. “Drink a lot of fluid, bottled water. You need to rest.”

The doctor’s treatments proved unsuccessful — Michelle died on May 25, and David, 37, succumbed to his illness two days later.

Local authorities are continuing to probe how the pair died.

“Influenza has been ruled out, and at this stage, we do not believe there is a risk to the public,” the Fiji Ministry of Health said in a Tuesday statement obtained by ABC. “It would be premature to speculate further on the cause of death until the investigation is complete.”





Five people who came in close contact with the pair at the clinic where they sought treatment are under quarantine as a precaution — and they are all “currently well,” the Health Ministry added.

Meanwhile, relatives say the wait for answers is agonizing.

“I’m stuck in a nightmare,” Rebecca Ward, David Paul’s sister, said in a Wednesday “Good Morning America” interview. “You think you’re going to have an answer today and you get a call that they don’t know.”

And Mark Calanag, Michelle’s father, said Monday he wanted an independent US investigation into the couple’s deaths. He said he has been in contact with the US embassy in Fiji and is awaiting the autopsy results.





Share this:

Filed under death , fiji , illnesses , texas , tourists , viruses , 6/7/19