Tick bite fever

The blogging's been quiet this week as I've been in bed with tick bite fever, something I wouldn't wish on anyone. It's a fairly common illness here, there are ticks everywhere so you always have to brush yourself down after a walk in the long grass. Obviously I missed this one as it bit me on my bottom, and obviously it was diseased as the bite which would normally be harmless resulted in the worst fever of my life. After a couple of days of feeling like I was fighting the flu I had a night where I sweated buckets - literally - and paracetomol didn't bring the fever down much so I took my first ever visit to the doctor here. She took one look at the bite on my bottom (which I had assumed was a mossy bite) and announced I had the dreaded tick bite fever. So after a week in bed, sweating fairly constantly, joints aching, taking 6 strong antibiotic tablets a day which messed with my digestive system somewhat, I finally emerged for the first time last night. I feel fine now, just very tired and washed out. The good thing is that apparently if you get tick bite fever more than once it gets less and less dramatic each time.

So I've now survived my first 'african illness'!