Rebel Wilson Has 'Bugs-xiety' After Contracting Malaria As A Teen
Rebel Wilson is opening up about a serious health journey she went through as a teenager.
She has a bug phobia after contracting malaria when she was younger.
Malaria can cause severe illness and even be deadly if it’s not treated in time, according to the CDC.
Rebel Wilson is opening up about a serious health journey she went through as a teenager. The actress shared in a new interview that she has a bug phobia after contracting malaria when she was younger.
“I have always had bugs-xiety … [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs,” the 44-year-old told Us Weekly. But Rebel said her fear of bugs got especially bad when she contracted malaria at 18.
“I woke up one morning in an African bush and I had like 100 mosquito bites on my face,” she said. “I was in hospital for two weeks. I could have died from it, it was very, very bad.”
Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite that infects a certain type of mosquito, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Malaria can cause severe illness and even be deadly if it’s not treated in time, according to the CDC.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, flu-like illness, chills, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. If it’s not treated quickly, the disease can become severe and cause symptoms like kidney failure, seizures, and confusion, per the CDC.
Worth noting: Malaria is not common in the U.S.—we only see about 2,000 cases of the disease each year, according to CDC data.
But malaria and deaths from the disease is more common in sub-Saharan Africa. Four African countries make up over half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Mozambique, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
While she’s OK now, Rebel says she has a very low tolerance for insects after her experience.
“I don’t want any little bugs crawling around at home, especially after having a baby,” she says.
You Might Also Like
