BBC Strictly Come Dancing star rushed to hospital over 'tropical disease'

The virus has been reported by BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Saffron Barker, who has issued a worrying health update.

A BBC Strictly Come Dancing star has been rushed to hospital amid fears she has contracted a tropical disease. The virus has been reported by BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Saffron Barker, who has issued a worrying health update.

The 24-year-old shared some updates with her legion of fans from her bed, as she said there were fears she’d caught a tropical disease. Saffron shared an update from her bed and said she had half the white blood cells there should be.

She wrote: “Thank you so much for all your well wishes, after a week I finally feel somewhat normal again. The doctors thought I’d caught a tropical disease from a mosquito when I was away.” She added: “I had all the symptoms being, rashes all over my body, headache, body aches, shooting pains in my body, temperature, sore throat and ears etc.”

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She revealed: “After getting my bloods taken turns out I didn’t have that but my white blood cells were half the number they should be so very low and therefore my whole body was trying to fight the infection.” She added “This is what the rashes looked like all over my body.”

Saffron shared: “Today is the first day I have woken up and they are settling so feeling grateful.” Tropical diseases include malaria, leprosy, chagas, parasites and diseases of the skin, eye, and gut.

In August, Saffron was forced to defend herself when rumours began to swirl about her recent weight loss. “I think it's quite obvious that I've lost a lot of weight recently - well I say recently, but it's been a gradual thing. My diet changed when I went to LA, for all the better. I don't eat anywhere near as much sugar as I used to eat and I never felt so much better for it in my life,” she said in a video.

“I've actually worked really hard, frickin' hard. Apparently nowadays you can't lose weight without getting liposuction or being on Ozempic. It's so frustrating, this is the only time I'm going to address it.”