The daily life of a Moroccan woman turned upside down by a rare water allergy

In Toulouse, a Moroccan third-year psychology student is unable to follow face-to-face classes or find a job to survive. And for good reason, she suffers from a rare disease.

“This Thursday (October 17, Editor’s note), I forgot to take an umbrella and I wasn’t wearing my waterproof pants. Ten minutes after getting hit with a few drops, I started itching. I had to give up my afternoon class…”, tells La Dépêche du Midi Zineb. The Moroccan student suffers from aquagenic pruritus. His whole body is assailed by itching except his hands and face. She has suffered from this rare disease since the age of 9. In Morocco, when her mother was giving her a shower, she started screaming and writhing in intense pain. “We didn’t understand what was happening. The doctors who examined me after this attack did not understand either. They recommended gels and soaps for sensitive skin. No one made the connection with the burning and itching,” recalls the third-year psychology student.