To celebrate her birthday weekend, Natalie and her friends decided to take a short trip to Batam, Indonesia.
Things started well. However, later that day, Natalie started breaking out in hives. Her face started swelling, and she had difficulty breathing.
She later found out that it was an allergic reaction to sandfly bites.
Natalie eventually went to the hospital and got treated for her allergies.
In a TikTok video on 3 Dec, Natalie recounted how her birthday trip to Batam landed her in the hospital within a few hours.
The trip started on a good note as Natalie enjoyed some scrumptious seafood and visited a beach.
She shared that there were “sandflies everywhere” at the beach.
Even as she was capturing a video of herself on the beach, the insects were biting her all over her face and neck.
Although she was only there for 20 minutes after sunset, she began to feel an itch.
Later, when they went to a beach club, she started feeling her face “ballooning up”. Hives broke out on her face.
Source: @naploes on TikTok
Initially, Natalie thought it was an allergic reaction to the seafood but soon learned it was due to sandfly bites.
She told MS News that she had brought some allergy medicine and took it immediately.
But her face continued to swell so much that she had difficulty breathing.
Natalie and her friends then decided to go to the hospital. But funnily enough, the resort they were staying at, HARRIS Resort Barelang, surprised her with a birthday cake before they left.
The resort staff were extremely helpful and later sent them to the hospital. They even waited till Natalie was done with her treatment to give them a ride back to the resort.
Natalie shared that at the hospital, the language barrier was a challenge, as the staff did not understand what she was saying.
Eventually, she decided to call a friend who knew Bahasa Indonesia to help with the translation. After understanding her predicament, the staff gave her a steroid injection to combat the inflammation.
However, certain questionable things happened after that. Natalie shared that the staff left the syringe in her arm for quite some time.
Source: @naploes on TikTok
In the comments, she said it seemed like the person tending to her was uncertain of what to do.
Natalie told MS News that the swelling subsided the next day, but the sandfly bites were still visible.
Nonetheless, she survived to tell the tale and made the most out of the rest of her trip.
According to SingHealth, sandflies can transmit serious viral diseases, including the Chandipura virus, similar to the rabies virus.
But for the most part, especially in our part of the world, sandfly bites are usually just a minor annoyance.
Bites typically cause itching, rashes, swelling, redness, and warmth in the affected body parts.
However, in more severe cases, the rash can spread across a larger area. In rare cases, bad allergic reactions can occur.
To treat this, a potent topical steroid can be used.
SingHealth stated that the best prevention of sandfly bites is to cover up.
Alternatively, one can apply insect repellent containing diethyltoluamide, also known as DEET.
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Featured image adapted from @naploes on TikTok.
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