Organophosphate poisoning.
Most patients exposed to organophosphates (click here) come into contact with insecticides. The first organophosphate insecticide was created in the mid-1800s but was not widely used until after World War II. Organophosphates are used as medications, insecticides, and nerve agents as a weapon. Symptoms include increased saliva and tear production, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, small pupils, sweating, muscle tremors, and confusion. The onset of symptoms is often within minutes, and it can take weeks to disappear....
Were there crimes taking place, like stealing, at the same time the tourists became ill. Obviously, tourism has been a part of the Dominican Republic's economy for a long time. Often, the resorts that cater to Americans will look toward the USA for policies. Have there been any changes in the regulation of organophosphates?
Let's assume there are organophosphates used at the resort. Where are they stored? How long have they been stored? Is there recently prepared chemicals stored inside and near areas where food or water is stored or near food prepared?
Any change in personnel that handles these chemicals for the resort? What training do they receive? Is the Dominican Republic aware of this uptick in illnesses and deaths of Americans at their resorts?
It cannot be blamed on storms from the past because these are all recent deaths. But, it is obvious it is poisoning. Why weren't there more illnesses and deaths at the same time these tourists became ill? It seems as though if there were more than one or two at a time it would raise suspicion to what the cause might be. It seems a little too random and isolated not to be a crime unto itself.
But, I would check the change in regulations as a starting point and whether or not the usage in the way of stocked supplies and sales into the Dominican Republic increased lately.
June 6, 2019
By Ashley Fantz
As authorities investigate the unexplained deaths (click here) of three Americans at a resort in the Dominican Republic, a Colorado couple who stayed at the same facility last year said they became violently ill after being exposed to what they suspect were insecticides spread through the air conditioning system.
Kaylynn Knull, 29, and her boyfriend Tom Schwander, 33, filed a lawsuit earlier this year against the owners of Grand Bahia Principe Hotel La Romana, blaming them for causing their sickness in June 2018.
In an interview with CNN, Knull said the recent deaths of a Maryland couple and a Pennsylvania woman within days of each other at the same Dominican Republic hotel complex made her angry and sad.
"My blood boiled. It made me want to scream. It made me want to cry," Knull said. "There's something going on. What happened to us may be related to what happened to them."
Last month, Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63 and Cynthia Day, 49, were found unresponsive in their hotel room at the resort in La Romana. Authorities in the Dominican Republic said a preliminary autopsy found that the couple suffered respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, caused by excess lung fluid. Day also suffered a cerebral edema. Five days earlier, 41-year-old Miranda Schaup-Werner died in her room with her husband nearby. The couples checked in on the same day -- May 25....
