Irkutsk blogger's Dengue fever ordeal in Maldives

Popular Irkutsk blogger Kristina Rezya ended up in a hospital bed after a vacation in the Maldives. The woman contracted Dengue fever. She told her followers how it happened.

“My return home turned into a nightmare: temperature up to 39°C (102°F), chills, severe headaches, painkillers that didn’t help. I thought it was just fatigue after the flight, a migraine… But my condition only worsened each day,” she noted.

Over a week, the blogger lost 5 kilograms (11 pounds), her muscles weakened, her skin became thinner, and many itchy red spots appeared on her body. Eventually, Kristina Rezya was hospitalized, and tests showed it was Dengue fever—a virus transmitted through mosquito bites, particularly common in the tropics.

“In the hospital, they gave me IV drips, administered antihistamines, and only under doctors’ supervision did I start to feel better. Now I’ve been discharged, but I still feel weakness and muscle fatigue. Doctors say recovery could take from two to three weeks,” the blogger shared.

She noted that the experience “brought her back down to earth”: she began to appreciate ordinary things, especially sleep and mornings without pain.

“It’s as if I was reborn and realized that the most important thing is only health (though I thought I understood that before). Lying in a lonely hospital room, I felt it even more. No one else in our group got sick, and that’s good. So, I had to go through a Maldivian baptism of fire,” the blogger concluded.

Dengue fever is an acute viral disease characterized by fever, intoxication, myalgia, arthralgia, and rash. Rospotrebnadzor (Russia«s consumer and health watchdog) recommends preparing in advance for trips to tropical countries and consulting a doctor on what preventive measures may be needed.