Man, 63, died after eating four duck eggs in extreme salmonella case

Retired retail manager, 63, died after eating four duck eggs he had bought at country show in one of the worst salmonella cases ever seen by intensive care consultant

• Niptoon Tavakoli, 65, bought six duck eggs in Messingham, Lincolnshire, in 2019
• Mr Tavokoli fried the first two without incident, but fell ill after a second meal
• He called 999 as his wife was away but said paramedics gave him advice at home
• Mr Tavakoli later died at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, two months after taking ill 

A retired retail manager sadly died from one of the worst salmonella infections a consultant had seen in his career after eating four duck eggs bought at a country show.

Niptoon Tavakoli, 65, died in hospital two months after he was taken ill in June 2019, an inquest jury heard today.

Mr Tavakoli’s wife Cheryl told Doncaster Coroner’s Court that they had bought six eggs from the Melton Mowbray Deli stall at Messingham Show, in North Lincolnshire, during a family day out on Sunday, June 2, 2019.

Prison worker Mrs Tavakoli, 63, said her husband ate two of the eggs for his evening meal the day after the show visit.

She said he fried them and ate them with toast.

‘He fried them really well, she said. ‘He didn’t like eggs too runny.’

Niptoon Tavakoli, 65, of Lindholme near Doncaster, South Yorkshire, died in hospital two months after he fell ill in June 2019

Mrs Tavakoli said that two days later, on the Wednesday, he decided to have two more of the eggs, saying: ‘I really enjoyed those duck eggs, I’m going to have another two.’

She told the jury of seven women and four men that he cooked them the same way.

Mrs Tavakoli said that on the Friday morning she woke to find her husband had been ill in the night with diarrhoea and vomiting.

She explained that she reluctantly made a trip to Essex due to a close family bereavement and, when she was away, her husband told her he had called for an ambulance.

Mrs Tavakoli said her husband, who came to the UK from Iran to study engineering when he was 19, told her that paramedics gave him advice but didn’t take him to hospital.

She said that she returned to their home in Lindholme, near Doncaster, but he was still very unwell.

She said she had thought things could have been different ‘if she had stayed with him’.

Mr Tavakoli, pictured with wife Cheryl, had purchased six duck eggs at the Messingham Show in north Lincolnshire. He fried two eggs on Monday and another pair on Wednesday but had fallen ill by Friday

She nursed him for two days at home until the Monday, a week after the visit to the show, when she called 999 again.

Mrs Tavakoli fought back tears as she explained how she was very concerned about her husband, fearing he may have sepsis.

She said he had developed mottling on his body and his lips and nails had turned blue and he was freezing cold.

The same paramedic crew attended and took him to Doncaster Royal Infirmary but Mrs Tavakoli said she was concerned about the ambulance crew’s attitude and why they did not travel under blue lights.

‘They seemed quite rude to be my husband – treated him like he was a fussy old man who just had D&V,’ she said.

‘But I was worried it was more serious. He was in a lot of pain.’

Intensive care specialist Dr Jon Maskill said Mr Tavakoli was seriously ill from the time he was admitted to the hospital.

He told the jury: ‘This severity of Salmonella, in my experience, is unusual. It’s not something you see a lot of.

Mr Tavakoli’s wife Cheryl said: ‘He was enjoying life. He was waiting for me to join him in retirement’

‘I’ve been doing intensive care for 27 years. He’s only second person I’ve come across with this degree of salmonella.’

Dr Maskill said antibiotics were used to treat the illness, but it was clear it was still in parts of his body.

The consultant said there was no prospect of him surviving surgery to remove whatever part of body was harbouring the infection and Mr Tavakoli died of multi-organ failure on August 12, 2019.

He said: ‘We came to the sad conclusion there was nothing we could do for him and to keep him comfortable was all we were able to do for him.’

Mrs Tavakoli explained how, when she realised the duck eggs might be responsible, she took the remaining two to the hospital for analysis and then scrubbed her home with bleach, throwing away the pan used.

She said: ‘I went home and I was in a panic, I felt like they were a ticking time bomb in my house.’

Mrs Tavakoli told the court that her husband enjoyed coin fairs and casinos and was the healthiest he’d been at the time of this death.

She said: ‘He was enjoying life. He was waiting for me to join him in retirement.’

Mrs Tavakoli and her family were present in court.

The inquest continues.

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