"It all started one day in June 2007, with a sudden fever and severe vomiting, said David Hancock. He should have gone to hospital, immediately. But he didn't he thought: If this is a common infection, I'll get over it. Then he realized it wasn't a common infection. But it still took 10 days for doctors to make a reliable diagnosis."
"During these 10 days the then 49-year-old fell into a coma and suffered heart failure multiple times. His lungs filled with fluid, and his brain became inflamed. "I was on the other side, with one foot in the other world, so to speak," said David of the experience, when we spoke in 2025. David had contracted West Nile virus from a mosquito bite on his very own doorstep in Glendale, a city near Phoenix, in the US state of Arizona."
"Unlike malaria, dengue, yellow fever or the Zika virus, West Nile virus (WNV) is not transmitted by invasive mosquitoes that have traveled north from the Tropics. WNV is mainly transmitted by native mosquitoes of the genus Culex. But WNV does originate from the Tropics. It was first detected in 1937 in the West Nile region of northern Uganda and named after that place where it was found."
A man in Arizona developed sudden fever and severe vomiting in June 2007 and delayed care, which allowed infection to progress for ten days before reliable diagnosis. During that period he fell into a coma, suffered repeated heart failure, had fluid-filled lungs, and experienced brain inflammation. The infection was West Nile virus contracted from a mosquito bite on his doorstep. West Nile virus is transmitted mainly by native Culex mosquitoes, cycles through birds, and spread from the Tropics after first detection in 1937. WNV infections are often asymptomatic, yet many people in the USA become seriously ill each year.
Read at www.dw.com
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