35-year-old Arina Koltsova had been a hardworking police officer from Kiev, Ukraine, when this unthinkable tragedy happened.
It started like a normal day for her, making sure everyone was safe and sound in the city. And while carrying out her duties, Arina came across a suspect and arrested him on the scene. During arrest, the suspect became extremely upset – he got so angry that he actually spat into her face.
What Arina and her work partner did not know at that time, however, was that the suspect was suffering from a deathly disease.
After the incident, Arina was not feeling well, but she decided to tough it out. Arina thought it was probably nothing, and believed that she’d eventually get better with time. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse and her symptoms continued to get worse.
One day, then, Arina suddenly collapsed at work. She was immediately rushed to the hospital, and was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB). That’s when she realized that she had gotten the disease from the man who spat into her face a while ago.
Even though she had received various treatments including chemotherapy, it was too late.
Arina’s conditions continued to get worse, and the chemotherapy weakened her body. As a result, Arina became severely undernourished, and had to be fed through an IV drip. The last selfie that she took and posted on her social media shows stark contrast between when she was healthy and when she was battling TB.
Despite all the efforts by the doctors and her willingness to fight the disease, Arina sadly passed away.
Mourning for this tragic loss, Arina’s fellow police officers wrote on their Facebook page as a tribute to Arina:
“This is an irreplaceable loss for the whole of Kiev police, fond memories of Arina will remain in our hearts forever.”
One of her unnamed friends told the Mirror: “Arina wanted to change something for our country. Joining the police was a conscious choice, she wanted to change things for better.”
Because Tuberculosis is an airborne disease that is easily contagious, here are the symptoms so you won’t fall victim to this serious disease. Some of the symptoms are coughing, fatigue, chest pain, and unintentional weight loss.
As Arina’s case shows, contracting TB can result in death. And one of the reasons why TB is so deathly is because some of the strains of bacterium are drug-resistant. As a result, more than 10 million people around the world became sick with TB in 2015 alone, and 1.8 million of those died. Being the second-most common cause of death from infection, after those due to HIV/AIDS, TB is highly deathly if not treated right away.
So please be aware of your surroundings, and immediately go see a doctor if you show any of the symptoms that are mentioned above. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
If you would like to learn more about this tragic event, check out this video below:
