A LEADING conservation expert from Ryedale is in a coma on life support after she was infected with a virus in Thailand.

Sophie Williams, a lecturer at Bangor University, is in a hospital in Bangkok after being struck down with Japanese encephalitis while conducting research in South West China earlier this month.

Her father Mike, owner of Castlegate News in Malton, said family and friends now faced an anxious wait to discover what the outcome will be for the 31-year-old, a former Norton College pupil and head girl at Lady Lumley’s School.

“Sophie remains in a critical condition and on life support and has still to regain consciousness,” he said.

“We should know more at the end of the week.”

Sophie, a highly-respected conservation expert who has given talks around the world, was undertaking botanical research with students from Bangor University 400 miles from the city of Kunming when she began to feel ill on Monday, July 6.

“She complained about feeling very tired and of headaches and nausea,” said Mike.

“She was then found unconscious and rushed to the local hospital in her area. The hospital identified that she had encephalitis, but didn’t know what type.

“It was then felt they couldn’t offer the level of care that was needed so the decision was made to airlift her to Bangkok where she could receive specialist help. After numerous scans and tests, she was diagnosed with Japanese encephalitis, which is a serious strain of the condition.”

Estimates suggest 68,000 people are infected with Japanese encephalitis each year. The condition, which is passed onto humans through mosquito bites, causes swelling to the brain and has a risk of death or can lead to brain injury for two-thirds of survivors.

However, doctors in Bangkok are among the world’s foremost experts in dealing with the virus, which is prevalent in South-East Asia, and have been invaluable in treating Sophie, said Mike, who travelled to Thailand to be by his daughter’s bedside alongside with mum Pauline and Sophie’s partner, Robert.

The family, which includes brother Samuel and sister Vicky, has also been receiving advice and support from Malton-based charity, The Encephalitis Society, the world’s leading resource for survivors and their families.

Mike said: “The level of medical support she is receiving in Bangkok is second-to-none. The British Consulate and Bangor University, who helped to organise the airlift from China to Bangkok, have been very supportive as have our family and friends who have been sending us their good wishes from all over the country.

“Sophie is dynamic and highly ambitious when it comes to pushing the cause of conservation. It has all come as a terrible shock to us and is every parent’s worst nightmare.”