Diagnosis: West Nile Virus

On July 9, 2003, the FDA cleared a test to diagnose West Nile Virus. The same day, my husband was lying in a hospital bed showing off. He could move his toes, certain cause for celebration. Even if the West Nile Virus test had been available 6 weeks earlier, it might not have made a difference. The treatment for confirmed West Nile Virus is exactly what the heros in the ICU unit had given him when they ruled out every known cause of meningoencephalitis (that's the medical term for simultaneous meningitis and encephalitis.) Basically, they treat the symptoms and try to keep the patient alive.

We knew he didn't have AIDS, syphilis, cancer, or any other diseases and disorders for which he was tested. His fever and headache had sent us to a different emergency room 4 days before where he had been prescribed antibiotics in case he had 'tick fever.' Because he'd been on the antibiotics, they couldn't be sure he didn't have a bacterial infection. Just in case, they administered 6 powerful antibiotics through a central line IV (an IV which is inserted into a large vein near the heart to allow for very strong drugs.) In the end they said it was probably West Nile Virus; at that time they couldn't test a living specimen. North Carolina was a ripe West Nile breeding ground that year. Because he was just a hair older than 50, the virus hit him hard.

When I told him I was going to call an ambulance, he asked if the other guy couldn't come. There was no other guy, but that was just the start of his confusion. When the paramedic asked him for his name, he couldn't come up with his surname and that scared both of us.

He spent 3 weeks in ICU where they battled his body's attempts to shut down. Every day was a new crisis. He had pneumonia, his lung collapsed, he developed blood clots, he ripped out his IV and his feeding tube, he was put on a respirator, taken off, and put back on again as his body refused to regulate his breathing. He retained water until even his fingers were rounded and his skin looked like it would burst. Then he got better as the West Nile Virus wound itself down.

As he started to become more lucid, he began to move his body around. I asked the doctors if it wasn't wrong that he was only moving his upper body, but they didn't seem to think his lack of lower body movement meant anything. It did.

We learned later that he'd developed an autoimmune disorder called Transverse Myelitis. We hadn't known about it before because he spent weeks sedated or comatose. His immune system had overreacted, either to the West Nile Virus or because of the heavy duty antibiotics. We've heard whispers since then that West Nile Virus seems to be linked to autoimmune disorders, particularly among those who fall seriously ill.

His body had attacked itself, eating away the insulation that lined his nerve cells. The effect was complete paralysis from the waist down. He's one of the lucky people, as 33% of people with TM never have any recovery. He eventually regained his ability to move, though not 100%. He is permanently disabled. West Nile Virus changed our lives forever, and I am glad to see the CDC taking it seriously. Recently, a test for West Nile has been developed that gives results in 15 minutes.