A woman who says she has been beset with illness after testing positive for high levels of measles among other antibodies now believes local health authorities have given up on her.

Stacey Dunn contacted The Royal Gazette after a suspected but unconfirmed case of measles caught the public eye last week.

“Right now, my head is just banging — I have a very severe headache,” Ms Dunn said. “On days like this, I just crawl into my bed and be still.”

She added: “Sometimes these days last for a few days.”

Ms Dunn got blood work in March 12, 2013 as part of preliminary tests for a laundry job at the Bermuda Hospitals Board, and showed high levels of antibodies for rubella, measles, mumps and the varicella zoster virus, commonly associated with chickenpox.

Antibodies are produced by the body’s immune system in response to an infection, and their presence alone is not enough to show whether an infection is active or past. Vaccines, for example, result in the appearance of specific antibodies because they stimulate immune cells to recognise and destroy an infection.

According to Ms Dunn, she was deemed healthy for work, and was employed by BHB from March until August 2013, but developed a red, itching rash that summer.

Although she was concerned at the similarity of her symptoms to the measles — which is among many viruses that can produce an aggravated rash — she said the Department of Health’s Hamilton clinic prescribed her cortisone for a possible allergic reaction.

Other symptoms included redness of the eyes, headaches, lassitude and fever. Ms Dunn, who had left her BHB job, ordered her children to leave the house and stay with other family members.

“I got a whole battery of tests through 2013, 2014, just trying to get to the bottom of it,” she said, recalling being prescribed with antibiotics for a possible MRSA infection, to Lamisil, an antifungal medicine. Although severe symptoms had abated by January 2014, she is no longer covered by work insurance and gets by on basic Government coverage.

In the meantime, she has not been able to receive a definitive diagnosis, although she remains unwell.

Although she believes there could be a link between her high antibody levels for measles and other viruses, Ms Dunn added: “I’m sure that one thing breaks you down and makes your body open to anything that comes your way.”

However, she remains adamant that “I must have something — you know your own body”, adding: “Nobody will find me positive for anything; they just keep treating me.”

“You can’t get medical help for something like this in Bermuda. You’ve got to go overseas, and if you can’t go overseas, you have no recourse.”