A doctor has explained the warning signs people should never ignore after a 23-year-old fitness influencer nearly lost her life to a brain infection while on holiday in Bali.
Khiana Smith, an online fitness coach from Australia’s Gold Coast, was admitted to intensive care after waking up with an excruciating headache that she struggled to explain. Her condition quickly worsened, and she was eventually unable to speak properly or remember basic things.
“I couldn’t even get out of bed,” Smith said. “It was so intense I couldn’t even open my eyes properly.”
What happened to Khiana Smith?
Smith had spent two weeks traveling around Europe before heading to Bali for what was meant to be a seven-day break. She had no idea her dream trip would end with her fighting for her life in an Indonesian hospital.
It started when she woke up one morning with an unusually painful headache. “I don’t know what happened, like I seriously don’t, I just woke up one day and I just had the worst headache,” she said. The pain came with dizziness and extreme sensitivity to light. “I couldn’t stand up without falling over,” she remembered.
She decided to wait and see whether it would pass. The next morning she felt “10 times worse,” and her symptoms kept getting worse, with blurred vision and slurred speech.
An ambulance took her to Bali International Hospital, where doctors did a CT scan and began giving her antibiotics within hours. She was diagnosed with meningitis, an inflammation of the protective membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Doctors were reportedly unsure at first whether the infection was viral or bacterial, so they treated her for bacterial meningitis as a precaution. Later reports described it as bacterial. The source of the infection hasn’t been established.
While she was in the hospital, Smith also developed pneumonia, and fluid built up in her lungs. “That’s not great,” she told her followers. “But I guess it’s all part of fighting an infection and being literally bedridden for eight days straight. My body’s just like shutting down.”
What are the warning signs?
Speaking to Fox News Digital on November 6, Dr. Alfred Joshua, a board-certified emergency physician and former chief medical officer based in California, said Smith’s symptoms were particularly worrying.
“She started having symptoms of severe headache, having difficulty with light,” he said. “And then she started having difficulty walking, and then eventually slurred speech.”
Joshua said meningitis can cause severe headaches, fever, and a stiff neck. Sensitivity to light, which is known as photophobia, is another warning sign, especially when it comes with an increasingly painful headache.
He stressed that changes in neurological function are especially concerning, because they can mean the infection is affecting the nervous system. “When symptoms are progressing in a more complicated manner with neurological dysfunction, do not wait and try to see this out,” he said.
Viral meningitis is often less severe and can sometimes clear up without specific treatment, he explained. Bacterial meningitis, however, is a medical emergency that requires antibiotics immediately. Some bacterial strains can progress at an alarming speed. “Certain strains over a couple of hours [can cause] the person [to] get really, really sick,” Joshua said.
He also said recommended vaccines can protect against some forms of bacterial meningitis, and he advised travelers to consider insurance that covers medical evacuation.
How is she now?
After about 10 days in the hospital, including five in intensive care, Smith announced that she had been discharged. In an update reported on Wednesday, November 4, she said, “Guys, we are alive! We’re alive, out of hospital, we are feeling so much better.”
She said she was still weak and facing a long recovery. She also revealed that she had developed a rash during her stay, which she attributed to the humidity, and that she had symptoms of “Bali belly,” the common name for a gastrointestinal illness that affects travelers.
As of November 8, Smith was still in Bali, rebuilding her strength and waiting for medical clearance to fly home. “The next few weeks will seriously just be about getting my health back and just looking after myself,” she said.
She previously told her followers, “Life is so precious, one minute I’m healthy travelling the world, living my dream life and the next I’m bed bound in an ICU in Bali with a brain infection that could have k*lled me.”
Her message to others was simple, “Don’t take your life or health for granted.”
Share this with others who like to keep up with the latest news stories from around the world.
Read more:
