Australian fitness influencer woke up with a bad headache in Bali but has spent over a week in a hospital intensive care unit due to meningitis. Meningitis is an infection of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord and can be fatal if not treated quickly.
Khiana Smith, 23, a fitness creator and online coach from Gold Coast, Australia, told news.com.au that she had been in intensive care for eight days with bacterial and viral meningitis, pneumonia she got in the hospital, and fluid in her lungs, according to the New York Post.
“I just woke up one day, and I had the worst headache,” Smith said.
Smith runs Her Method, a fitness and nutrition coaching business, and has been posting updates from her hospital bed to TikTok and Instagram, where she has nearly 87,000 followers combined, TMZ reported.
Smith had been traveling in Europe for two weeks and had been in Bali for about a week when she fell ill, the Post reported. The headache quickly turned into severe head pain, dizziness, slurred speech, blurred vision, and extreme sensitivity to light, UNILAD reported, citing her posts.
IV drip treatment she had at the villa did not improve her symptoms, and a doctor who checked her called an ambulance, which took her to a hospital within minutes. Within a few hours, she had a CT scan and intravenous antibiotics, a quick response that her mother said probably saved her life.
Doctors do not yet know how she was infected. Possible sources include contaminated food, water she swam in, or another passenger on a flight.
Her stories have slight discrepancies. Smith told news.com.au she had been in intensive care for eight days, while TMZ said nine. The infection has left her with memory problems and difficulties following conversations.
“I really struggle to remember things,” Smith said in a TikTok video.
She also had to deal with language barriers as she tried to understand her condition, UNILAD reported. In her latest update, Smith said she felt a bit better after getting out of bed and walking for the first time in more than a week.
Her mother, Cass Smith, flew to Indonesia as soon as she found out her daughter was ill. She told news.com.au that nothing is scarier than knowing her child is struggling for her life in another country, thousands of kilometers from home, the Post reported.
The family commended Indonesian medical staff despite the language barrier. When her condition deteriorated, doctors were able to reach Smith within 10 to 15 minutes, a level of care the family said is more than they usually get in Australian hospitals.
Travel insurance is covering her hospital bills. Cass Smith said she warned her daughter to buy a policy before the trip and advised other travelers to do the same.
Smith has not been cleared to fly back home due to swelling in her brain and concerns about cabin pressure. The family hopes doctors will give her clearance in about a week, when she plans to cut her trip short and recover on the Gold Coast. They also hope the quick start of antibiotics will prevent any long-term consequences and that her memory loss will be temporary.
Hundreds of followers have sent her messages of support. Smith, who says she eats healthy and exercises every day, has used her posts to warn others that serious illness can happen to anyone.
“Don’t take your life or health for granted ever,” she told her followers, according to UNILAD.
Meningitis is swelling of the protective lining of the brain and spinal cord. Bacterial meningitis is a serious illness and can kill in a few hours, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Most people recover with proper care, but survivors may suffer permanent disabilities, and complications can include seizures, coma, and even death. Doctors treat it with antibiotics, which the CDC says should start as soon as possible.
Viral meningitis is the most common type and is less serious. Most people recover from mild cases on their own within seven to 10 days, though severe cases may require hospitalization, the CDC says.
Bali has a reputation for having bacterial meningitis. A 2019 study in Emerging Infectious Diseases, a CDC journal, found that 44 of 71 cases of acute bacterial meningitis treated at Denpasar’s main hospital from 2014 to 2017 were caused by Streptococcus suis, a bacterium carried by pigs. Researchers attributed those infections primarily to handling pigs and eating raw pork products, including traditional dishes made from fresh pig blood. About 11% of the patients in the study died.
No particular cause has been announced in Smith’s case.
