BBC News
Lizzy WillmingtonUniversity lecturer Lizzy Willmington faced an “incredibly gruelling” time after becoming ill with suspected chest infections, enduring months of extreme fatigue, a persistent cough and difficulty breathing.
The 38-year-old faced isolation after then being diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), which the World Health Organization has called the “world’s deadliest infectious disease”.
She was off work for about seven months in total and has described how she initially spent a lot of time “sleeping or vomiting” which she attributed to her course of treatment, a cocktail of medication.
Public Health Wales (PHW) said TB was a “serious public health concern”, with cases up from 84 in 2023 to 95 in 2024.
It is marking World TB Day with an event to raise public and professional awareness about its “impact in Wales” following an increased incidence rate, up from 2.7 to 3.0 cases per 100,000 people in that time.
PHW has said early diagnosis and prompt treatment was crucial to limiting the effect on patients and spread of the infection in the wider community.
What are TB symptoms?
- A cough that lasts more than three weeks
- Feeling tired or exhausted
- A high temperature or night sweats
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Feeling generally unwell
- Patients can be treated with several antibiotics over several months
Source: 111 NHS Wales
Ms Willmington said the infection impacted her personal and professional life as well as her health.
She spent a lot of time on her own, sleeping up to 16 hours daily and having to isolate to avoid spreading the infection.
She also needed to take medication on and off for a year to protect against continued use adversely affecting her liver.
“The treatment was incredibly gruelling,” said Ms Willmington.
“I guess you don’t really know because you’re going through it, but particularly the first couple of weeks, I was either sleeping or vomiting, to be honest.
“It was kind of 15 to 16 hours of sleep a day… [I] woke up quite early, had breakfast, took medication, managed to entertain myself for an hour or two and then back to bed.”
She described the care by GPs and staff at Cardiff’s TB clinic as “incredibly caring and very available and very supportive”.
Lizzy WillmingtonMs Willmington, from Cardiff, said she was unsure how she contracted the infection, although suspected it had been dormant in her system for years after being picked up when she went travelling some years before.
As she had the TB vaccine, BCG, as a child, Ms Willmington has also wondered if her health was compromised by an autoimmune disease, a condition caused by antibodies attacking healthy cells in the body.
Since becoming free of TB symptoms, she said she was trying “to be a bit more focused with how I spend my time” but added that “you can’t make up for lost time”.
“Finishing treatment was amazing,” recalled Ms Willmington.
“I went out with some friends and had a cocktail or two that evening, and was bounding around quite a lot after that.”
In all, it was 14 months between first becoming unwell and completing her treatment last July.
PHW said action was needed to prevent TB cases from increasing in Wales, although it continued to have the lowest rate in the UK – compared to the UK-wide average of 7.8 cases per 100,000.
It is bringing together healthcare professionals, policymakers, researchers and patients to share insights at its Wales World TB Day Symposium in Cardiff on Monday.
