Dr. Anthony Fauci told CBS News that he is recovering at home after being hospitalized with West Nile virus.
Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a longtime public health official who headed up the United States’ response to the coronavirus pandemic, was hospitalized about ten days ago, he said Saturday. At the time, he was suffering from fever, chills and severe fatigue.
Fauci said he left the hospital three days ago and is expected to make a full recovery at home.
The West Nile virus is primarily spread by mosquitoes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental U.S. and spreads during mosquito season in the summer and fall. Fauci likely contracted the virus from a mosquito bite in his backyard, he said.
There are no vaccines to prevent West Nile virus or medicines to treat its symptoms, but most people infected with the disease do not feel sick, according to the CDC. About one in five people infected develop a fever and other symptoms. About one in 150 infected people develop a “serious, sometimes fatal, illness,” the CDC said.
About 216 cases of West Nile virus have been reported in 33 states this year, according to the CDC.
Other mosquito-borne viruses include dengue fever. U.S. health officials recently warned doctors to be alert for dengue as cases this year break international records. Puerto Rico is experiencing an epidemic of dengue, as is much of Latin America, while limited local spread of the virus has also been reported in Florida, Hawaii, Texas, Arizona and California.