Laurence Dollimore
A 26-YEAR-OLD woman has recalled her horrific ordeal after becoming infected with the West Nile virus in southern Spain.
Melody S.R (pictured above speaking to local news) said she felt like her head ‘was exploding’, describing the sensation as ‘like having my heart in my brain.’
Speaking to Correo de Andalucia, the mother of a nine-year-old boy recalled how she first went to a health centre in Coria del Rio – the epicentre of the latest outbreak – on July 29.
READ MORE: How to protect against the West Nile virus
She said she could no longer withstand the severe headaches that she had been suffering from for two weeks prior.
She recalled: “The doctors asked me if I woke up at night, if the light bothered me, and if the pain was getting worse, and I answered yes to everything.”
The local was eventually hospitalised for five days after developing encephalitis (inflammation of the brain), one of the possible side effects of the mosquito-borne disease.
Melody added: “I went to the emergency room six times, they ruled out the mosquito, but I was almost sure it was the cause.”
The small town of Coria del Rio, in Sevilla, has already seen three deaths from West Nile virus this summer, two of them whom Melody knew personally.
There have been a further two deaths, one in La Puebla and another in Dos Hermanas, both in Sevilla province.
Melody was admitted at the same time as Ana Garcia, a 77-year-old woman from her town who spent 21 days in hospital battling the illness.
The young mother said her faith as an evangelical Christian helped get her through the ordeal.
Despite 10 new infections confirmed in the latest report from the regional health ministry, the ruling Partido Popular, with the support of far-right Vox, refused to hold an emergency session in the Andalucian Parliament (the Junta de Andalucia).
Fresh protests were held in Coria del Rio on Monday night, demanding a vaccine be created.
Melody’s ordeal
When Melody first went to the health centre in Coria del Rio, she was transferred to the Virgen del Rocio Hospital in Sevilla city.
She had a CT scan and a blood test that very same day, before being referred ‘urgently’ to the neurologist.
“The doctor who treated me assured me that my condition had nothing to do with the West Nile virus,” claimed Melody.
Between Monday, July 29 and until she was finally admitted on Saturday, August 3, Melody underwent multiple tests, including blood tests, a CT scan and an MRI, as well as a urine test, something she specifically requested and which came back positive.
She was back and forth from hospital a total of six times, despite her headaches being so severe she could barely stand up.
On one of her return trips to the Sevilla city hospital, a report from the Coria health centre ordered a West Nile test to ‘rule out’ the disease.
But they told her she would need a lumbar puncture to know for sure.
The procedure involves a needle being inserted into your lower back, between the bones in your spine, to remove fluid for analysis.
Melody was terrified of having the spinal tap and so decided to return home instead, but her headaches and fever of 39C persisted.
When her condition deteriorated again, she was forced to return to Virgen del Rocio Hospital in the early hours of August 3, where she eventually agreed to undergo the spinal tap.
“I have very bad memories of that moment, they tried to remove the fluid from my marrow on two occasions, but they were not successful,” Melody recalled.
On the third occasion, it worked, and the West Nile virus was confirmed.
Then followed five days in the infectious diseases ward, where she was also treated for encephalitis.
While she is now back home, she continues to suffer from headaches.
