NEED TO KNOW
John Roberts is in the hospital after being diagnosed with serious malaria on August 25
The Fox News host told that he had bodyaches and "uncontrolled shivering."
He said that his treatment has made him feel "up and down," but he hopes to be back at work next week.
John Roberts
A Fox News host, is currently dealing with a serious case of malaria.
68-year-old talked about his health scare and learned that he had been diagnosed with the disease spread by mosquitoes on Monday, August 25.
The pain in my body went from my head to the tips of my toes. Almost everywhere. “I couldn’t stop shivering the whole time I was performing,” he tells. “At first, I thought it was just aches and cramps in my muscles.” But when I began to shiver, I thought I might have the flu.
When Roberts’ blood work showed that both his platelets and white blood cells were low, he “knew it was bad.” He says, “My rheumatologist told me to go to the ER.”
Once Roberts got to the hospital, he got the final diagnosis. “I thought, ‘You must have malaria,'” Nothing is ever done in small amounts. He says, “But I was a little scared.” “If you don’t treat malaria, it can kill you.”
He also says, “I don’t know exactly how ‘severe’ it was from a medical point of view, but it sure felt severe.” “I’ve never been that sick in all my life.”
Roberts thinks he got the disease while on vacation in Indonesia. He stayed there for two weeks and came back in early August. He doesn’t remember being bitten, but about 10 days after getting home, he started to feel sick.
Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and is most common in tropical or subtropical areas. People who get it often have fevers, headaches, chills, aches and pains in their muscles, and feeling tired. They may also have stomach problems like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Most of the time, symptoms show up between one week and one month after contact.
Most cases of malaria in the U.S. are from people who got it somewhere else and brought it back with them. Every year, about 2,000 cases in the U.S. are identified with malaria.
Roberts was given IV artesunate while he was in the hospital. This is the standard treatment for serious malaria in the US, and Roberts calls it a “big gun” for getting rid of parasites.
He has been feeling “up and down” while he’s been getting better.
“Yesterday (Aug. 27) was a bad day,” he says. “I was awful all day.” Also, my temperature changes a lot every hour. From one minute to the next, I’ll be shaking and shivering like a leaf.
He hopes to leave the hospital soon and go back to work on Tuesday, September 2.Â
In his first social media post about his diagnosis, Roberts thanks Trace Gallagher for filling in as Sandra Smith’s co-anchor on America Reports while he was sick.
“Somehow I got a bad case of malaria,” he wrote on X, which used to be Twitter. “I am sure I am the only person in the hospital who has Malaria.” Another doctor told me I’m the first case he’s ever seen. Thanks to the staff at @InovaHealth for their knowledge and kindness…!”
