The heartbroken mum of a young man who died of a tropical fever while travelling in Thailand has issued a warning to other travellers, saying she had never heard of the disease before it claimed her son.
Bob Toulson-Burke, 21, was in the middle of the trip of a lifetime backpacking around south-east Asia when he came down with flu-like symptoms.
Less than two weeks later he died in a Bangkok hospital from dengue fever. His mum Jayne Toulson-Burke is now trying to raise awareness of the disease ahead of possible outbreaks across Europe.
Last summer doctors saw outbreaks of the disease, which is usually confined to the tropics, in France and Ibiza. Experts have warned that climate change could bring dengue to the UK in coming summers.
Bob reportedly sought medical help after experiencing headaches, nausea and joint pain but the hospital told him to return in two days if he wasn’t feeling better.
By the time he returned to doctors Bob was running a fever and he called his mother to tell her he was being moved to a bigger hospital.
"He said 'I'll have to go now Mum because I can't breathe very well', and that was the last I spoke to him," mum Jayne recalled.
His frantic mum worked to secure an emergency passport so she could visit her ill son but just before she was due to fly Jayne received the awful news that Bob had passed away.
The 21-year-old had suffered a series of heart attacks and fell into a coma before dying on 7 December, 2016.
Heartbroken Jayne has now devoted herself to raising awareness of the dangers of dengue fever - even re-tracing her son’s travels around Thailand and Vietnam and warning other backpackers of the danger.
Jayne has even stayed at some of the same hostels as Bob, in order to "see it through his eyes,” she told Sky news.
In honour of her son’s memory Jayne spoke to travellers about dengue symptoms, which include joint pain, a high temperature and a rash and handed out information cards to backpackers.
"The majority of times they really took it on board to take a card from me and I'd say please stay safe, these are the symptoms. And then others would just say, 'It won't happen to me'," she said.
Between 2015 and 2019 an average of 505 Brits caught dengue fever while abroad according to data from the World Mosquito Program.
In 2022 French authorities reported a record 65 cases of the mosquito-borne infection while a cluster of cases among tourists in Ibiza last year means the island will raise its dengue risk level from "low" to "moderate" in May.
Meanwhile Jayne’s mission to raise awareness of the symptoms of dengue continues, if her warning means just one person recognises the symptoms and gets help she said she would feel as if she has done something for her son.
"Bob was never given that chance,” she said.
