Cheryl Cole's mother keeps bedside vigil as malaria forces star to pull out of X Factor auditions

By Chris Johnson

Bedside vigil: Cheryl Cole's mother outside the London hospital her daughter is staying in recovering from malaria. She has been forced to pull out of this weekend's X Factor auditions, it emerged today


Cheryl Cole has pulled out of this weekend's X Factor auditions in Manchester because she is still too ill with malaria.

The singer and judge has now spent her third night in hospital and medical experts say she may not be able to return to her normal work schedule for several weeks.

Cheryl's mother Joan is keeping a bedside vigil over her sick daughter and was today pictured looking downcast and exhausted outside a London hospital.

The star's dancer friend Derek Hough, who she has been romantically linked to, is also reported to be at her side.

It remains to be seen whether Cheryl will make it back to health in time for the boot camp stages of the show, which are filmed next month.

A statement on X Factor's official Twitter account today confirmed: 'The X Factor Manchester auditions will go ahead as scheduled, but Cheryl is unfortunately not able to attend. Get well soon Cheryl! x.'

Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh will be joined by guest judge Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger in Manchester this weekend.

She was in place in any event to replace Dannii Minogue, who is on maternity leave after giving birth to a baby boy on Monday. No other celebrity has been lined up to replace Cheryl at this stage.

The 27-year-old is now reported to have spent her third night in intensive care, suffering headaches and fever, with her condition said to be worsening


Trip: Pictured last month arriving at Heathrow with dancer Derek Hough after a trip to Tanzania where she is thought to have contracted the illness. Hough, who has been romantically linked to the star, is also thought to be at her bedside


A source told The Sun: 'It is a lot more serious than first thought. Everyone thought she would pull through after 24 hours but there have been no signs of improvement.

'She is very ill and will not be out of hospital for a while. Everyone is holding their breath.

'Because of her hectic schedule, the malaria has really taken a hold.'

Simon Cowell has told Cheryl that her recovery is an 'absolute priority' and not to worry about rushing back until she feels ready.

The singer may also be forced to pull out of an appearance at V Festival next month and her management are ready to delay the release of her second album in October


Busy workload: Cheryl joined Louis Walsh, Simon Cowell and guest judge Pixie Lott at the X Factor auditions in Cardiff last Friday


The star has been in hospital since Sunday evening after collapsing at a photoshoot the previous day.

She was transferred on Tuesday from the private Cromwell Hospital in west London to a specialist tropical diseases unit at UCL Hospital in central London.
Initially it was believed the Cheryl was suffering from exhaustion.

However, tests revealed she had contracted the potentially fatal tropical disease malaria which she is thought to have picked up during a holiday in Tanzania with 25-year-old dancer friend Derek Hough last month.

Cheryl stayed at the Doubletree Oyster Bay hotel in Dar es Salaam on the short break last month with Derek, who she has been romantically linked to since filing for divorce from footballer Ashley Cole.


Bed ridden: She is being cared for at a specialist tropical diseases unit at UCL Hospital in central London


Last year, the star conquered Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with a team of celebrities, helping to raise £3.5million for Comic Relief, ironically to buy mosquito nets for people in Africa.

Infectious diseases specialist Martin Wiselka said: 'With malaria you nearly always get a fever.

'Cheryl will be feeling pretty rough, like she has really bad flu - tired and sweaty. It depends how bad it is.

'If it is caught in the early stages, malaria can just affect you like a bad flu.
But if it is bad it can affect all parts of your body and your organs, including your heart.


Cheryl hiked Mount Kilimanjaro last year for Comic Relief to raise money to buy mosquito nets for South Africans


'It normally takes a couple of weeks for symptoms to develop - roughly 10 to 14 days from the mosquito bite, but sometimes it can take a bit longer than that.'

Cheryl was said to have been taking her anti-malaria medication, but still caught the potentially fatal disease.

Dr Wiselka, who works at University Hospital, Leicester, added: 'Some of the drugs are a bit more effective than others because the disease is resistant to some drugs.

'None of them are 100 per cent effective and even if you take them religiously if you are felling ill and have diarrhoea then that can stop the body absorbing the tablets.

'In the UK malaria affects around 1,500 people a year and the majority of those have the more serious falciparum strain, which is common in Africa, but it is not yet known which strain Cheryl has contracted.'

Dr Wiselka added: 'It can be fatal because it affects the blood which then travels all around the body causing complications.

'The effect it has depends on how much blood it has affected. The higher the percentage, the more serious it is.

'The majority of cases respond to treatment and require two to three days in hospital and then the patients are released once we are sure the treatment is working. If it is more serious then they can be kept in for longer.

'Within a week Cheryl should have got rid of the malaria if it was caught quickly, which it sounds like it was, but it is a blow to the system and it will take several weeks to feel right again.

'I would expect her to feel tired and washed out for a few weeks.'


source: dailymail