2023-06-23 19:47:45
In 2011, Mike van den Nieuwenhof (33) from Nuland contracted Q fever. He still suffers from that. “My children sometimes ask if I’m going somewhere. I don’t always want to say that they should go with their mother. But when I go along, I sometimes look like a sixty-something,” says Mike, who has serious fatigue complaints.
Mike is a father of 5-year-old twins. He has an office job and works four days a week. “When I was first infected, I could only work a few hours a day at the most. So that has improved, but it took years. And it is still not as it should be for someone my age.” To become mentally and physically stronger, he has followed a rehabilitation process.
Mike is not the only one with persistent complaints, according to research by the Erasmus hospital and Q-support, specialized in aftercare for patients with Q fever. Years after their infection, patients have 19 health complaints, including severe fatigue, concentration problems and physical exhaustion. Many patients have stopped working.
The research also shows that study, sport, social contacts and hobbies are under great pressure. Mike recognizes that. “Sometimes I want to meet up with colleagues or friends and then that’s not possible. You have to skip a birthday or you can’t go out with your young children. I see a gloomy future. I sometimes go to bed at seven in the evening, at the same time with the children. I hope it will pass one day, but after all these years there is still no breakthrough in terms of medicine,” says Mike.
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