A subtle form of tuberculosis sited behind the sinuses caused the rare and fatal bleeding of late 28-year-old singer Numtarn The Star 5, the management of Siriraj Hospital said on Wednesday.
Prasit Watanapa, dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, said doctors infiltrated a camera lens behind the sinuses of Butsaran Thongchiew, aka Numtarn The Star 5, and noticed an abnormal colouring of 0.5-1 centimetre of tissue there.
The tissue was removed and it bled. Tests revealed she had had the rare tuberculosis behind her sinuses.The disease might not show symptoms, Dr Prasit said.
In 2017, about 80,000 out of the 69 million Thai people were diagnosed with tuberculosis. He said 83% had the disease in their lungs and the other 17% had it elsewhere.
Of the 17%, only 1% had the disease behind the sinuses. Worldwide, medical reports showed that about one-third of these patients showed no symptoms, Dr Prasit said. About 70% of the patients had swollen lymph nodes in their neck or tumours behind sinuses, he said.
"Numtarn's case is really rare... She never showed a symptom. People should have annual checkups," Dr Prasit said.
Numtarn was pronounced dead at Siriraj Hospital on June 14. On June 11, she started bleeding heavily through her nose and mouth while at home in her native province of Samut Sakhon. She was rushed to Samut Sakhon Hospital and referred to Siriraj in Bangkok on Wednesday. She had to be resuscitated multiple times - eventually to no avail.