Former French tennis player Marion Bartoli’s drastic weight loss over the past few months — after she retired from competitive tennis in August 2013 — has so far been met with a mix of worry and shaming, and she has even been subject to abuse online.
However, Marion recently went on record claiming that her weight loss was due to a virus that she had contracted while on a recent hectic tour that included a trip to New York and India. Saying that it’s a “constant fear”, the 2013 Wimbledon winner said in a televised interview on This Morning that the virus was unidentifiable by doctors, and that her symptoms didn’t allow her to lead a normal life.
Marion explained, “I can’t even wash myself with tap water... I can’t be on my phone for more than five minutes as my heart starts to pump... Every time I do something, I’m scared to see the reaction to my body, it’s a constant fear.” She also went on to add that she’s reduced to eating just organic salad leaves now, with skinless cucumbers.
And while the reason for her sudden weight loss may have been explained, the nature of the virus that she reportedly contracted in our country has doctors baffled as to what it could be.
“Marion Bartoli has a problem which has not been diagnosed,” Dr Suneetha Narreddy, a consultant for infectious diseases at Apollo Hospitals says, adding, “The claim is that she has an unidentified virus which she picked up in India. How do we know that she has a virus if one has not been identified If the virus has not been identified how do we know that its origin is India Her symptoms are not classic for a viral infection and can be indicative of any number of problems.”
Those problems could even be genetic in nature, explains Dr Sasikiran, Senior General Physican at Yashoda Hospitals, adding that this is why there have been no reported cases here in India.
“There are a few theoretical possibilities — it could be like HIV or tuberculosis or even malabsorption syndrome. There’s also a set of diseases called prion diseases, which are very rare and are sometimes genetically inherited, but can also occur because of partially cooked meat. These can lead to some sort of wasting away symptoms and there’s no proper treatment for them because they’re usually detected post mortem,” he says.
The Frenchwoman’s condition could also be a viral illness, something that should have been easily diagnosed by now.
“There is no such virus, with this characteristic presentation, known to us. There are a few viruses which are associated with weight loss but they can be easily diagnosed,” says Apollo Hospitals’ Dr Hari Kishan Boorugu, a consultant physician. He goes on to add, “The cause of this condition could be due to a condition other than an infection as well! There are many possibilities.”
