Strictly star Saffron Barker was hospitalised over fears she had contracted a “tropical disease”.
The 24-year-old YouTuber said she had all of the symptoms of malaria, including rashes all over her body, aches, shooting pains, a temperature. Doctors were worried she was suffering with the potentially fatal disease until her blood tests revealed, luckily, this wasn’t the case.
Saffron sparked concern when she took to Instagram to share updates on her health following a scary trip to hospital. Posting a snap from the comfort of her bed, she wrote: “Thank you so much for all your well wishes, after a week I finally feel somewhat normal again. The doctors thought I’d caught a tropical disease from a mosquito when I was away.”
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Malaria is a common but potentially life-threatening condition spread by mosquitoes, and symptoms can appear six to 10 days after being bitten. “I had all the symptoms being, rashes all over my body, headache, body aches, shooting pains in my body, temperature, sore throat and ears etc,” Saffron continued.
(Image: PA)
In another post on her Instagram Story, she shared a graphic shot of a needle in her arm at the hospital, and confirmed she didn’t have malaria. She wrote: “After getting my bloods taken turns out I didn’t have that but my white blood cells were half the number they should be so very low and therefore my whole body was trying to fight the infection,”
She then shared a video of the rash on her arms. “This is what the rashes looked like all over my body,” she added.
(Image: saffronbarker/Instagram)
Fans were relieved when she posted another snap from the bath as she revealed she was finally on the mend. “Today is the first day I have woken up and they are settling so feeling grateful,” Saffron wrote. It’s not the first time she’s been in hospital this year, as she had to seek medical help while on a skiing holiday in January following a painful fall.
(Image: saffronbarker/Instagram)
Saffron became the first female social media star to appear on the BBC One show in 2019, following in the footsteps of Joe Suggs who competed in 2018, and she was partnered with AJ Pritchard. She shot to fame through her YouTube channel, and boasts more than two million subscribers, and fans have been following her life on Instagram and TikTok since she was kicked off the dancing show five years ago.
In August, Saffron address rumours spreading about her recent weight loss. The influencer jetted to the US in June to take a six-week acting course, and when she returned to the UK faced a barrage of accusations about her slim figure.
“I think it’s quite obvious that I’ve lost a lot of weight recently – well I say recently, but it’s been a gradual thing. My diet changed when I went to LA, for all the better. I don’t eat anywhere near as much sugar as I used to eat and I never felt so much better for it in my life,” she said in a video.
(Image: saffronbarker/Instagram)
“I’ve actually worked really hard, frickin’ hard. Apparently nowadays you can’t lose weight without getting liposuction or being on Ozempic. It’s so frustrating, this is the only time I’m going to address it.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
