@article{Veerakul_Chaothawee_Jirasirirojanakorn_Nademanee_2011, title={What we have learned about Lai Tai in Thailand?}, volume={1}, url={https://he02.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/bkkmedj/article/view/217663}, DOI={10.31524/bkkmedj.2011.02.009}, abstractNote={<p><span style="color: #231f20;">It was for more than a century that the mysterious sudden death, so-called “Lai <span style="letter-spacing: -.25pt;">Tai”,</span> had been prevalent among villagers in <span style="letter-spacing: -.1pt;">Northeastern </span>(NE) Thailand. Most victims were otherwise </span><span style="color: #231f20;">healthy young men who died unexpectedly during sleep. Moaning and </span><span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">gurgling </span><span style="color: #231f20;">sounds had been heard before they became unre- sponsive and expired. In some families, similar deaths had been occurred to male </span><span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.1pt;">siblings, </span><span style="color: #231f20;">for over four generations, which was suggestive of genetic preponderance. It was still a local myth that these</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">unexplained</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">deaths</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">were</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">caused</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">by</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">a</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">widow</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">ghost</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">came</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">to</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">take the mens’ soul at night. Several years ago, Lai </span><span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.3pt;">Tai </span><span style="color: #231f20;">received media attention after a cluster of deaths of Thai workers in Singapore. Despite extensive autopsies by local authorities, the cause of death remained</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">unidentified.</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">So</span> <span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">far,</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">Lai</span> <span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.3pt;">Tai</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">had</span> <span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.15pt;">affected</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">our</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">nation</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">in</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">many ways,</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">from</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">the</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">smallest</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">unit</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">where</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">wives</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">and</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">children</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">had</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">lost</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">their husbands,</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">fathers</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">and</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">the</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">heads</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">of</span> <span style="color: #231f20; letter-spacing: -0.2pt;">family,</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">up</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">to</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">the</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">national</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">level,</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">that lost</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">the</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">significant</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">incomes</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">from</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">the</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">death</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">of</span> <span style="color: #231f20;">workers.</span></p>}, number={1}, journal={The Bangkok Medical Journal}, author={Veerakul, Gumpanart and Chaothawee, Lertlak and Jirasirirojanakorn, Kriengkrai and Nademanee, Koonlawee}, year={2011}, month={Feb.}, pages={59} }