When the trip of a lifetime ends in a medical emergency. From bleeding eyes following a mosquito bite to the stomach bug that has lasted three years – these holidaymakers tell their cautionary stories

The idea of a holiday in a far-flung corner of the world sounds appealing but it can come with risks and for some unlucky travellers that means the experience of developing a tropical disease.

Just this week, for example, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) warned cases of the mosquito-borne infection, chikungunya, which causes fever and joint pain – and can in some cases be fatal – had more than doubled between January and June compared with the previous year in people coming back from Indian Ocean holidays.

Here, four people share their experiences of serious conditions they developed during trips to distant destinations…

Mosquito bite in Mexico led to bleeding from mouth and eyes

Karen Wride, 61, an artist, is married to Justin, 56, a landscape architect and splits her time between Wales and Portugal.

She says: ‘I was on a three-week trip to Mexico to celebrate my 60th birthday in the winter of 2023 when a mosquito bit me on the sole of my foot.

‘It really hurt and immediately started to itch, but I had no idea what lay ahead.

‘A few days later, I ached, had a fever, headache and intense stomach cramps. Within a few hours I was vomiting. The next morning, I noticed blood in my urine and stool and my body was covered in an itchy rash.

‘Someone at the hotel reception called me a doctor, who examined me and said he thought I had dengue fever [an infection spread by mosquitoes]. I’d never heard of it.

‘I was rushed to hospital in Playa del Carmen and in the days that passed I honestly felt I was dying. Everything hurt. I vomited blood. There was also blood in my pee and poo, even coming out of my eyes, my nostrils and my mouth. 

‘It was confirmed that I had haemorrhagic fever, with type 1 dengue – one of the four strains of the condition. There was no cure and nothing they could give me except paracetamol for my fever and pain and a saline drip to keep my hydrated.

‘I was absolutely terrified. All I wanted was to go home, but I was still too sick.

‘Also, dengue makes the patient a carrier – so if another mosquito bit me, I would infect that mosquito and if it then went on to bite someone else on the plane, they could get it too.

‘It wasn’t until a week later that I was allowed to travel, after a blood test showed I was finally fighting off the infection.

‘I was instructed to visit my GP as soon as I arrived back to monitor my progress.

‘I’ve been told I can never risk travelling to a tropical destination again because if another mosquito with dengue bites me I could die. I am sad about this – we love travelling – but I’m lucky to be alive.

‘I’d warn others to take care in mosquito-ridden areas, get help quickly if you have dengue symptoms and make sure you have good travel insurance.’

Expert view: Dengue fever is a virus contracted through a bite from an infected mosquito and the symptoms, which include fever, a severe headache, nausea and body pains, normally begin around four days after the bite. Most people will recover within a fortnight. However, severe dengue symptoms can include bleeding gums or nose, blood in your vomit or stool and persistent vomiting – especially in those who are infected for a second time which can prove fatal in a minority of cases.

‘Severe dengue is more common in children, adolescents, older individuals and pregnant women,’ says Dr Philip Veal, a consultant in public health at the UKHSA. ‘It is also seen in those with certain underlying conditions including asthma, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, kidney disease, bleeding disorders and in those taking anticoagulant [anti-clotting] medication.

‘That is because any haemorrhage can quickly become serious for someone taking anticoagulants, which stop blood clotting.’

Most cases in UK travellers are acquired in Asia, Central and South America and the Caribbean. But dengue is now ‘an emerging disease’ in parts of Europe according to the UKHSA.

‘Aedes aegypti, [the mosquito that causes most dengue cases] is now established in Cyprus, around the Black Sea and in the outermost region of Madeira,’ says Dr Veal.

To protect yourself, the advice is to wear clothes that cover as much of your body as possible, use mosquito repellent and sleep with mosquito nets in areas where dengue is a known threat.

Effects of stomach bug caught in Dominican Republic continues three years on

Samantha Broadbent, 52, a former children’s services worker and mother of two, lives in Stockon-on-Tees.

She says: ‘I was at the airport on the way home and I began to feel unwell, with painful stomach cramps and diarrhoea.

‘My son Ben, then 13, and I had been on what was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime to the Dominican Republic. I’d saved for two years and spent £5000 on the all-inclusive hotel.

‘But I was shocked to find the hotel was nothing like the pictures and the food was covered in flies. Sadly, I couldn’t wait to get home. I wasn’t surprised when my stomach started to lurch.

‘The long flight home was awful. I was constantly running to the loo.

‘Back in the UK, I dropped Ben at his dad’s house but had an accident in the car and had to shower myself. Ben came home later and found me delirious. I was standing, shivering, under a boiling hot shower talking gibberish. The rest is a blur. He dialled 999.

‘I was blue-lighted to hospital, where they put me on a drip to rehydrate me. When I explained I’d been away, they ran tests for tropical diseases and kept me in for three days until I turned a corner. Two days after I was discharged the hospital rang to say I had shigella. The doctor explained it was a bacteria that affects the digestive system and is caught through contaminated food or water.

‘Three years on, I still have symptoms. I get caught out running to the loo at least twice a week and suffer from exhaustion, so cannot work. ‘Ben, now 16, is still haunted by how ill I was and how I could have died. I’m just relieved he didn’t get it too.’

Expert view: Most prevalent in the tropics, shigella is the second most common cause of diarrhoea-related death globally and is spread by contact with a person or food contaminated with even tiny quantities of shigella bacteria, says Dr Michael Zemenides, a GP and co-founder of The A-Z General Practice at HCA Healthcare UK.

‘Shigella bacteria infect the intestinal tract, causing shigellosis [shigella infection] and can progress to dysentery [inflammation of the colon]. One species, Shigella dysenteriae, causes a more severe illness with dysentery,’ says Dr Zemenides. 

He adds: ‘It produces a toxin called shiga, which causes blood clots within small vessels, predominantly in the kidneys.’

Symptoms include diarrhoea, usually lasting seven days – initially watery and profuse, abdominal pain and fever, palpitations, dehydration, nausea and vomiting. Patients can sometimes also develop a rare type of arthritis called Reiter’s syndrome or reactive arthritis.

In otherwise healthy adults, most cases of shigellosis are mild and self-limiting. But Dr Zemenides adds: ‘More severe cases need rehydration therapy along with adequate nutrition from frequent small meals. Severe cases may be treated with antibiotics.’

Prevention is key, he says, so regular hand washing is essential.

Needed treatment for rabies after dog bite in Thailand

Jan West is 62, retired from the Army and lives in Swansea, South Wales.

She says: ‘On the last afternoon of an amazing break in Thailand, I was standing outside a shop when I felt a sudden sharp pain in my leg.

‘A small, stray dog had sunk his teeth into my leg then ran off. My leg was bleeding profusely from a massive gash. People ran out from a nearby café to help. A local lady said: “You need to go to hospital. Dogs here have rabies.”

‘I limped to a nearby bar where I was meeting my boyfriend Dave and he flagged down a tuk tuk. The driver pedalled at speed through busy streets, cars beeping, until finally we arrived.

‘At the hospital I was whisked through and doctors explained rabies was rife and it was likely the dog had it. I’d need medication immediately. I was panicking by then.

‘I was given a tetanus injection then injections of anti-rabies medication directly into the cut. I also had a high dose of antibiotics.

‘The next day I waddled on to the plane but back in the UK my wound was grey, oozing and clearly infected, so I went to A&E, where I was hooked up to intravenous antibiotics. I felt fluey and weak and was given another course of anti-rabies medication tablets to take daily for three months. 

‘The consultant explained there’s no test for rabies, so they just assume you have it if you’ve been bitten by a dog from a rabies-infested country. I was allowed home after three days. The infection slowly healed over a few weeks and thankfully I had no further symptoms.

‘After three months, I was officially rabies-free. That was back in 2023 and I still love travelling but I am always careful whenever I see a dog and give wild animals a wide berth.’

Expert view: ‘We never take risks with rabies because, with only a handful of exceptions, it is universally fatal once a person develops symptoms,’ says Dr Chris Smith, a consultant virologist at Cambridge University and editor of the Naked Scientists podcast.

‘Rabies is an infection of animals conveyed by body fluids, usually saliva, that gains entry to the body through scratches, licks to broken skin, or bites.’

Once inside the body the virus attacks the nervous system and brain, which may lead to symptoms including muscle spasms, aggression and paralysis.

‘There are about 100,000 human cases per year, all fatal, mostly in Asia, and mainly arising from dog bites, although other animals such as bats and cats can also transmit the infection,’ says Dr Smith.

If someone is suspected of being exposed to rabies they may be given a rabies vaccination with or without immunoglobulin (anti-rabies antibodies).

Dr Smith advises: ‘Do not pet or stroke stray animals ever. Even if they look cute and friendly, rabies can lead to unpredictable behaviour and uncharacteristic aggression.’

Put on a drip after bug caught from hotel buffet food in Egypt

Rebecca Wood, 39, a nurse from Lancashire, lives with her partner and their seven-week-old baby boy.

She says: ‘Our trip to Egypt was our final getaway as a couple before our first child arrived. I was three months pregnant and immediately began to notice worrying signs that the food at our hotel was undercooked with dishes left uncovered for long periods, and meat and pizzas sitting out in the blazing sun. I also saw a worker picking up a piece of meat from the floor then placing it back on the serving tray.

‘My partner was almost instantly struck down with severe diarrhoea and vomiting. The day after I became ill and couldn’t even keep water down and I was terrified for my unborn baby.

‘We visited the hotel’s medical unit who put me on a saline and glucose drip. I stayed there for hours, still vomiting, and was billed £860 on the spot. The treatment provided some relief, but it didn’t last. They advised me to return for another round but we couldn’t afford it.

‘We spent the next seven days trapped in our room, too ill to leave. We missed every excursion we’d booked and could barely eat.

‘Once back in the UK, I was asked to submit a stool sample for testing and it confirmed I had salmonella. Environmental health officers contacted me to ask where I’d contracted it. My doctor advised against antibiotics, explaining my body needed to fight the infection naturally.

‘I lost a stone in weight in a few weeks and had an additional scan to check on my baby’s health. We now have a healthy seven-week-old son. I’m grateful things didn’t end differently but I still shudder to think of what could have happened.’

Expert view: ‘Salmonella is the name for a group of bacteria – in the developed world, salmonella primarily causes gut infection such as gastroenteritis or food poisoning,’ says Dr Claire Agathou, a GP and co-founder of The A-Z General Practice at HCA Healthcare UK. 

‘In developing countries a different type of salmonella bacteria can cause more invasive illnesses such as typhoid fever [ a potentially life-threatening infection which cases fever, pain and constipation or diarrhoea]. Almost any food product can be contaminated, but outbreaks are most often linked to poultry, dairy products such as raw milk, and undercooked eggs.’

Hotel buffets can be a hot spot she adds as food may be left unrefrigerated for long periods.

Symptoms usually develop between 12-36 hours of eating contaminated food and commonly include diarrhoea, stomach cramps, fever, nausea and vomiting lasting around four–seven days.

While many cases resolve without treatment, she says oral rehydration solutions available from pharmacies which contain the right balance of salts and sugars can help and she suggests sports drinks and salty crackers too to help maintain fluid and salt balance.

‘Antibiotics are used in severe or prolonged cases, or in those at higher risk of complications such as very young children, elderly individuals, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems or chronic conditions like diabetes,’ says Dr Agathou.

‘Those who develop symptoms abroad, vulnerable groups or anyone experiencing severe symptoms should seek medical advice promptly if symptoms are severe or persistent.’

Dr Agathou adds: ‘Key tips to reduce the risk and spread of salmonella include thorough hand washing after going to the toilet, before and after handling food and ensuring food is cooked through, especially poultry and eggs. It is also important to stay home and avoid contact with others until at least 48 hours after diarrhoea and vomiting stops.’