Giulia woke up thinking about the day ahead of her, the knowledge that the big day had arrived pushing aside any reluctance to get out of bed: that afternoon the finals of the regional athletics championship were to be held and she would be running in the 400 metres after a long winter of training and selection for the provincial team.
The moment had arrived which might repay so much hard work. In fact, because of that wretched allergy that brought her out in a rash every three days and forced her to take antihistamines, she was not at absolute peak form, but she still hoped for a good result.
Towards midday she started feeling a mild itching on her arm, and scared that she would be puffed up and covered in spots, she quickly took the pill. True, the doctors had told here that these pills might make her a bit sleepy and maybe cause symptoms of fatigue, but Giulia was convinced that they were mistaken, because what she was feeling was extreme tiredness. But how was it possible that the tests had so far shown up nothing abnormal? Hmmm.
The championships went quite well, though it was hard to make do with third place when she was used to winning. During the days that followed she found herself falling asleep at her desk in school, and after training she was completely exhausted.
“I’ve made an appointment at another allergy clinic,” said her mother that evening. “Let’s see if anything more can be done.”
Giulia thought with distaste of a fresh round of blood tests; and those doctors who never saw her but simply read the figures on the analysis sheets left her bewildered. “What sort of doctor is this?” she often wondered. But the allergy was now so distressing that she greeted the news with relief.
On the morning of the appointment they arrived early at the hospital, where a doctor said that he felt the investigation was incomplete, because it still lacked tests for various viral infections that could cause allergic reactions.
A few days after the tests Giulia’s mother went to collect the results; she was so sure that they would show nothing, like all the previous tests, that she did not open them until she was in the train on her way home. But what a surprise – the Epstein-Barr virus test result was markedly abnormal (not one but two asterisks!) with a value of 12 when the maximum was 0.9. But what did this test mean? At home the doctor explained that it was a test for glandular fever, reassuring both mother and daughter, because the analysis revealed IGG immunoglobulin and not IGM, indicating that the girl had had the disease, but that the virus was no longer present in her system. This virus, causing a symptom-less untreated illness, could have been the trigger for the allergy and, in particular, was the true cause of her tiredness.
“But that means that everything’s OK”, said Giulia, “all I need to do is rest a bit and my problems will disappear.”
“Certainly”, said the doctor reassuringly. “You can carry on with all your usual activities. You just have to stop and rest when you feel too tired. We certainly won’t be satisfied with a bronze medal at the national athletics championships in six months’ time!”
Reporduced by kind permission of Assobiomedica, Italy (
www.assobiomedica.it)