A young singer who died after three sessions at a local massage parlour that included neck twisting had died from blood poisoning and an autopsy is needed to determine the actual facts of her death, the provincial health chief said on Monday.

Twenty-year-old Chayada Prao-hom, aka Ping Chayada, died on Sunday.

Dr Somchaichote Piyawatwela told reporters that, according to her family, Chayada went to a massage parlour in Udon Thani on Oct 5 for a massage because she had pain in her neck and shoulders.

Two days later the singer complained of pain in the back of her neck and took painkillers. She wrote on her Facebook account on Nov 6 that the massage included neck twisting.

A week later Chayada complained of numbness in her arm and returned to the same massage parlour. She received massage from the same masseuse, the doctor said.

Two weeks later, Chayada complained of stiffness. She returned to the same place and was given a massage by a different woman.

Later, Chayada reported feeling a tingling, heat and itching in her fingers and numbness in her right leg, he said.

On Oct 30, she went to hospital was given medication on Nov 1.

On Nov 4, she returned to hospital.

Chayada stayed at Udonthani Hospital from Nov 6 to 11. During this time she suffered severe leg and neck pain and was unable to move her limbs.

Examinations showed she did not have a broken neck bone but suffered a neurological disorder resulting from an inflamed spinal cord, Dr Somchaichote said. She received medication, recovered and was discharged.

On Nov 18 Chayada again suffered stiffness, along with a seizure. She was rushed to hospital and on Nov 22 was moved to an intensive care unit at Udonthani Hospital.

On Dec 8, she died from septicemia, Dr Somchaichote said.

When reporters asked for the cause of the blood poisoning, Dr Somchaichote said Chayada had been bed-ridden for a time and there were many possible causes. 

On Saturday night, a tourist from Singapore died after a massage at Patong beach in Phuket.