Brit left in ‘blank state’ after ‘mosquito bite’ on holiday turned out to be deadly brain swelling disease
A BRIT was left in a “blank state” and unable to recognise his own mum when a holiday mosquito bite turned out to be a deadly brain swelling disease.
Andrew Court was visiting his pal in Bali ahead of starting a new job when he fell ill with a fever and started being sick last month.
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Thinking it was dengue fever, a tropical disease spread by infected mosquitoes, the business supplier rested in the hope he would soon recover.
But three days after falling ill, Andrew’s friend Zeke Scott was horrified to discover he had suffered multiple seizures and he was rushed to hospital.
There, doctors ran a series of tests.
While tests for dengue fever were negative, medics gave Andrew a “devastating” diagnosis of pneumonia and viral encephalitis, which causes swelling in the brain.
Read more on encephalitis
Andrew’s family and Zeke, who all rushed to be at his bedside, are in the dark as to what triggered the deadly condition.
Zeke, 40, said Andrew is in a “blank state” and apart from briefly recognising his mum a fortnight ago, he’s still unaware of who anyone is.
Andrew’s health insurance had expired just a week before the seizures and Zeke said he was due to renew it once he started a new job in February.
The family is now fundraising £50,000 to cover the cost of his treatment and fly Andrew home to Buxton, Derbyshire.
Zeke, from Pererenan, Bali, Indonesia, said: “The only thing that is confirmed is that he has viral encephalitis and pneumonia.
“He had a bit of fever in the night for a few nights, was a little bit nauseous and threw up.
“We originally thought it was dengue, which is a mosquito-borne virus, which would result in a very extreme case like the viral encephalitis but the test came back negative.
“They’re testing him constantly, they’re focusing on dealing with the encephalitis because of the brain swelling.
“He recognised his mum last week on Thursday and gave her a big hug, but not long after he was unaware of who anywhere was and went to a blank state.
“He goes through phases of being present and there are a lot of times when he’s not present.
It’s devastating to know he is in there, with me over the other side of the water
Stewart Court
“He had an MRI and they’re still trying to determine if it’s swelling of the brain or damage. It’s a different level of medical care unfortunately.
“Last week we were all exhausted and confused, when I heard of him not recognising his mum we all bawled our eyes out. It was a very big step backwards for us.
“He is having treatment that should stop the infection but he is still not present.
“He’s on every medication under the sun at the moment.”
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‘Day-by-day’
Gym-loving Andrew, from Buxton, East Midlands, was visiting Zeke in Bali and about to take up a job on a neighbouring island.
The engineer and constructor said that Andrew’s insurance had expired just a week before the seizures and he was going to renew it once he started his new job in February.
Zeke said: “All that we know is that he had been a bit light-headed in the days before that and in the night.
“He was supposed to be starting a new job in February for a UK company and working on an island near Bali.
“His insurance expired about a week before he got sick, it was really bad timing.”
Symptoms and causes of encephalitis
Encephalitis is an uncommon but serious condition in which the brain becomes inflamed.
It can be life threatening and requires urgent treatment in hospital.
Encephalitis usually starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache.
More serious symptoms come on over hours, days or weeks, including:
- Confusion or disorientation
- Seizures or fits
- Changes in personality and behaviour
- Difficulty speaking
- Weakness or loss of movement in some parts of the body
- Loss of consciousness
Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these serious symptoms.
What causes encephalitis?
It’s not always clear what causes encephalitis, but it can be caused by:
- Viral infections – very rarely, encephalitis may be caused by the common viruses that causes cold sores (herpes simplex) or chickenpox (herpes varicella) spreading to the brain
- A problem with the immune system – sometimes something goes wrong with the body’s defence against infection and it mistakenly attacks the brain, causing it to become inflamed
- Bacterial or fungal infections – these are much rarer causes of encephalitis than viral infections
Some types of encephalitis are spread by mosquitoes (such as Japanese encephalitis), ticks (such as tick-borne encephalitis) and mammals (such as rabies).
Source: NHS
Andrew’s brother Stewart Court hasn’t flown out to visit him in hospital for fear of “stressing him out” if he doesn’t recognise him.
The 34-year-old said the family is taking it “day by day” and will make decisions based on his progress.
Stewart said: “I was shocked, dismayed, it’s very, very hard. It’s devastating to know he is in there, with me over the other side of the water.
“At the moment we’re just taking it day by day. It’s a condition when we don’t want to overly stress him out.
“He has his mum and dad out there and is still trying to remember things but we need to remind him every day where he is and why he’s there.
“I haven’t even had a chat or a video call because it may stress him out not knowing who I am at that moment so we’re taking it day by day. We’re devastated.”
The family is raising money to bring Andrew back to the UK, which will cost around £30,000 for the flight, while each night in the ICU costs around $1,000.
Stewart said: “I’ve been massively appreciative for what people have done and its blown my mind what they’ve been able to donate.
“It’s also a testament to how many people out there love him, including from friends that he went to high school [with] that donated £1,000.
To donate to Andrew’s GoFundMe, follow the link here.
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