Jule shares her experience with dengue, describing how it affected her swim training, recovery, and daily life, and the changes she made afterwards.
Jule is a Takeda intern. This story represents one person's experience with dengue disease. It is important to talk with your doctor if you are experiencing any symptoms that could be dengue disease.
I got dengue in September 2019, during the monsoon season, while I was living in India. My family and I had relocated there from Germany back in 2008.
I was training as a swimmer at the time, and we trained outside. Practice usually ended around 6 p.m., right around dusk. After training, I’d chat with my coach for a few minutes by the pool, without long sleeves and without any mosquito spray.
“Looking back, those few unprotected minutes were probably when I contracted dengue because I try to take good care of myself normally.”
– Jule
At first, I didn’t understand what was happening. Although it wasn’t uncommon for me to get bitten by a striped mosquito, this time I hadn’t noticed it. I was surprised and very confused as to why I had such a high fever that wouldn’t go down. I took painkillers, but as soon as they wore off, the fever came straight back. This went on for several days.
The constant fever was incredibly draining. My body felt like it was under constant stress, and I was almost in a kind of fever trance. I don’t remember all the details, so I had to ask my mom to recall what was going on because I was so weak and feverish.
I had the privilege of going to the doctor. They tested my blood and closely monitored it. When the fever finally started to go down, I thought I was getting better as my joint pain had started to reduce and I was getting stronger.
“Then the rash appeared all over my body, and the fever came back. That part was the worst because I thought it was over, and then it hit me all over again.”
– Jule
Weeks after the infection, I was still extremely weak. I was supposed to compete in a swimming competition a couple of weeks later, but even normal practice felt exhausting. Everything took much more effort than it had before and rebuilding that strength was both slow and draining.
My family had always been cautious about dengue. My mom had dengue back in 2009, so we were already very aware. We were careful about mosquito spray, keeping doors closed, avoiding going out at dawn and dusk, avoiding certain areas of our neighbourhood with standing water, and using fog machines, which are commonly used in India.
But after getting dengue myself, I was more careful about those couple of minutes, that in my case, made the difference.
I stopped waiting around after swimming. I covered myself immediately. I carried mosquito spray with me a lot more. I started to wear long, loose sleeves as much as possible.
While people are aware and cautious of dengue, nobody really knows the details of what to be cautious about. Dengue was talked about at school, but often in a way that scared you rather than educating you.
After moving back to Europe, people here are a lot more scared than people in India (or other regions where dengue is common).
“When my friends found out I had dengue, they were shocked because to them it was something they only saw in the news.”
– Jule
For anyone travelling to dengue-endemic countries, using mosquito repellent is very important. Wear layers and take time to research and educate yourself on seasons or outbreaks before you go.
C-ANPROM/INT/QDE/0394 | July 2026
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