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Dancer bitten by mosquito on holiday wakes up with no arms or legs

Awoman who woke up with no arms and no legs after returning from a holiday and falling ill has said she is just "grateful to be alive". Tatiana Timon is all smiles as she opens the door of her new ground-floor flat in Camberwell, South London - despite the concentration required for her to carry out this simple task.

It is less than a year since Tatiana - a former dancer and restaurant worker - became a quadruple amputee, after the dance holiday of a lifetime ended horribly. In May 2022, Tatiana joined a dance group on a trip to Angola in central Africa, to take her Kizomba to the next level in the country where it originated.

Tatiana described how she had the most "amazing" 10 days pursuing her passion in the south African country. But unknown to the 35-year-old, while abroad she had been bitten by a mosquito and contracted the "deadliest" form of Malaria. "I was clueless," said Tatiana, who admitted she should have checked the risks of travelling to Angola online, but said her mind was only focused on Covid at the time. It wasn't until a few days after she flew back to London that things began to escalate incredibly quickly.

She described how after returning to London she fell off her bike on the way to work. Though not badly injured, she decided to stay with a friend for a few days to recover - but within days she had become so weak and feverish that she couldn't make it to the bathroom by herself.

Tatiana's friend called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, where tests confirmed it was not the bike accident but a deadly form of Malaria causing her symptoms. The illness rapidly worsened, and within hours Tatiana was put in an induced coma. While she doesn't remember any of what happened next, Tatiana said her friends and family watched on helplessly as the Malaria turned into sepsis - blood poisoning.

Speaking to MyLondon at her new home this week, she said: "All of my friends and my family were worried because the doctor was telling them that I was going to die, like I was about to die three times." Tatiana said her work even paid for her father to fly to London from Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean to "say goodbye".

Tatiana, who maintains she only survived because of how fit she had kept herself, explained that to prevent the sepsis spreading to her vital organs, doctors had to amputate all four of her limbs. The memories are hazy, and Tatiana can only recall snapshots - like being wheeled into an operating theatre and seeing a "big saw" before the operation to remove her lower legs.

She said: "When I woke up from the coma I knew, I saw that I was in hospital, and I knew something happened to me. But at that time I didn't know how bad it was, like I just knew something had happened."

Tatiana remembered the nurses had put a board opposite her bed, decorated with a picture of herself and her own name, as well as facts about her, like the fact that she was born in Réunion Island before moving to London eight years ago.

The dancer said at first when the nurses offered to help her with tasks, like holding her phone so she could call people, she'd say "I can do it myself… I can hold the phone, it's fine, just do your job". It took a while before her situation really sunk in.

"It's really hard to explain," said Tatiana, who said physical movement felt like a mental block, rather than a physical impossibility, at first. She explained: "I knew my body was there but I just couldn't move it. It was like, when you're in your bed and you don't want to move."

In the weeks and months since, Tatiana has had to begin the slow process of accepting her new body - and adapting to it. Her friends, family, and entire community have been left awestruck by her unshakeable positivity through it all.

"I've always been positive, I'll make a joke about anything," said Tatiana. "A negative thing I can turn into a positive thing to make my life easier, because I don't like stress." Shrugging, she added: "It happened, so I need to deal with it."

Tatiana is still learning to do basic daily tasks, like use the washing machine and cook for herself - but she is determined to become 100 per cent independent. Already moving gracefully on her new prosthetic legs, the dancer has recently learnt to make coffee with no hands.

"It's not going to stop me doing my thing," said Tatiana, who hopes to start dancing and hitting the gym again once she’s mastered the basics - a feat which should be possible, thanks to the fast-acting doctors who were able to amputate her limbs below the joints, giving her much more mobility.

"What happened to me changed me; changed me inside," said Tatiana, who said she feels wiser, like she's 10 years older. "I have the support of my friends, my family. I'm just grateful I'm alive," she said. "Just being grateful is enough." 

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Equatorial Guinea confirms Marburg outbreak – nine dead, 4,000 in quarantine

Equatorial Guinea has confirmed its first outbreak of Marburg disease, a virus which is closely related to Ebola and can kill up to 88 per cent of people it infects. 

 

Electron Micrograph Of The Marburg Virus© Provided by The Telegraph

Although only one case has been confirmed, 16 people are suspected of having caught the virus, nine of whom have died. More than 4,000 people have been quarantined at home.

Neighbouring Cameroon has restricted movement across the border. 

"Marburg is always very serious and we’re very concerned. The fact it's close to international borders is a concern," said Prof Jimmy Whitworth, a specialist in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

Another expert on haemorrhagic fevers told the Telegraph that there was added concern considering the country has no experience fighting viruses from the filovirus family, which includes both Marburg and Ebola. It is thought healthcare workers are among those who have been infected, they added.

At an emergency meeting held by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday, it was announced that the index case occurred a month ago, on January 7, and the ministry of health was alerted four weeks later. 

"Surveillance in the field has been intensified," said George Ameh, WHO's country representative in Equatorial Guinea.

"Contact tracing, as you know, is a cornerstone of the response. We have...redeployed the Covid-19 teams that were there for contact tracing and quickly retrofitted them to really help us out." 

 

The Egyptian rousette or Egyptian fruit bat - Alamy Stock Photo© Provided by The Telegraph

The small Central African country tested for the virus following the unexplained deaths of at least nine people in the country’s western Kie Ntem Province over the last week. It is understood that these people are thought to have been infected during funerals of other positive cases.

Marburg is a severe, often fatal illness. It begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days. 

It is transmitted from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected people, surfaces and materials.

Health experts are now racing to trace contacts of those affected and increase epidemiological surveillance.

Efforts are also under way to mount an emergency response, with the WHO deploying epidemiologists and infection prevention measures.

"One thing that is a little bit worrying is that it borders on to both Gabon and Cameroon," said Prof Whitworth. "We're going to need an international response."

"The positive signs are that the WHO is acting very quickly, they deployed a team very quickly and are meeting today to discuss vaccine and therapeutic options," he said.

He added that the current outbreak is in a sparsely populated and isolated area, which could help control its spread.

Marburg virus was first recognised in 1967, when outbreaks of haemorrhagic fever occurred simultaneously in laboratories in Marburg and Frankfurt, Germany and in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). The infections were traced back to three laboratories which received a shared shipment of infected African green monkeys.

Thirty-one people became ill, initially laboratory workers followed by several medical personnel and family members who had cared for them. Seven deaths were reported. The first people infected had been exposed to Ugandan imported African green monkeys or their tissues while conducting research.

Subsequently, outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. These are naturally occurring, caused by bats.

“Marburg is highly infectious. Thanks to the rapid and decisive action by the Equatorial Guinean authorities in confirming the disease, emergency response can get to full steam quickly so that we save lives and halt the virus as soon as possible,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa.

There are no vaccines or antiviral treatments approved to treat the virus. However, supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms improves survival rates. 

A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, as well as vaccine candidates with early trial data, are being evaluated.

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