Fauci Was Hospitalized With West Nile. Who Is Most at Risk for a Severe Case?

Anthony Fauci, MD, former chief medical advisor to President Biden, is recovering from West Nile virus after being hospitalized with the disease for six days.

Fauci may have been infected from a mosquito bite in his backyard in Washington, DC, according to a CNN interview with Carlos del Rio, MD, executive associate dean at Emory University School of Medicine.

While reported cases of human infections are relatively low in the United States, they consistently peak in August each year.

In an interview with Stat, Fauci said he stayed in the hospital while doctors tried to diagnose his illness. Initially, the doctors thought he had a bacterial infection or a tick-borne disease, but he later tested positive for West Nile virus.

Fauci told Stat that he felt like he’d “been hit by a truck.” His symptoms included fever, persistent “shaking chills,” and extreme weakness.

How Severe Is West Nile Virus?

West Nile was responsible for 1,840 hospitalizations last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

About 80% of people who contract West Nile Virus will not develop symptoms and do not need to seek diagnosis or care. 

Fauci may have been one of the 20% of people who experience symptoms because of his age.

“Older people tend to be more symptomatic and have more severe disease with a West Nile virus infection,” del Rio told Verywell.

The CDC says adults aged 60 and older are at greater risk for severe illness, as are people with conditions like cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, and high blood pressure. 

A smaller subset of people who contract West Nile virus—about one in 150—develop serious central nervous system illnesses like brain inflammation (encephalitis) or meningitis.

Whether someone with West Nile symptoms goes on to develop severe neuroinvasive symptoms or not, the illness will typically unfold in the same way, Photini Sinnis, MD, deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, told Verywell.

“It all starts out as feeling lousy and having cold-like symptoms. From there, progressing to a severe case is a funnel, and that funnel is determined by age,” Sinnis said. “You have a 20 times greater risk of getting neuroinvasive disease if you’re over 65 and 40 times greater chance of having this severe disease if you’re over 75.”

How Do You Know If You Have West Nile Virus?

Most people infected with West Nile will never know they had the virus.

Blood tests and cerebrospinal fluid tests can confirm a West Nile diagnosis, but an official diagnosis won’t influence treatment recommendations. There is no specific medication or vaccine for West Nile. Treatment for serious cases involves supportive care, such as intravenous fluids and monitoring for secondary infections. 

How Can You Prevent West Nile Virus?

The virus is not contagious among humans. It’s spreading, in part, because rising temperatures attributable to climate change are pushing mosquitoes further north, del Rio said. Frequent flooding across the U.S. creates more breeding grounds for mosquitoes, too.

The best way to prevent West Nile virus is to avoid getting bitten by a mosquito. While that’s easier said than done, you can learn a few tricks for making yourself less attractive to mosquitoes here.