Missouri teenager left paralyzed and on a ventilator from West Nile virus

A St. Louis County, Missouri, teenager suffered rare complications from West Nile virus that has left him paralyzed and on a ventilator.

John Procter V said his son’s symptoms started around Aug. 8 when he complained of headaches and dizziness.

A doctor told John Procter VI, 18, a recent high school graduate whom the family calls “BB,” that he had a tension headache and that he was dehydrated and to get some rest, his father said in an interview Thursday.

The family took him back to the hospital after he started "violently vomiting," his father said. This time, doctors said he had a "stomach bug," gave him over-the-counter medicine and sent him home.

"It didn't get better; it got worse," the older Procter said. "A fever started coming, high fever, 103, 104, could not break them, could not keep anything down, so we took him to a different emergency room. They said he had a stomach bug there, as well. They also thought he had meningitis ... but it came back clear. They sent us home with over-the-counter medicine."

But the teen's symptoms worsened, and he became lethargic, slurred his words and had trouble raising his arms.

"I recognized that he was in some sort of distress, and I believed he was having a stroke," Procter said. "I just picked him up and carried him to the car."

The teen was placed in intensive care at the hospital and diagnosed with West Nile virus, which is commonly spread through infected mosquitoes. There is no vaccine or treatment.

The family said that he is paralyzed from the neck down and that he was placed on a ventilator to help him breathe.

Severe complications from West Nile are rare. About 1 in 150 people experience symptoms that affect the central nervous system, such as inflammation of the brain or meningitis, inflammation of the membranes that surround the brain and the spinal cord, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms of severe illness include neck stiffness, headache, disorientation and paralysis. Recovery can take weeks or months, and some effects can be permanent.

According to the CDC, preliminary data shows at least 18 people have died in the U.S. this year from the virus. Last year, there were 182 deaths.

Erin Staples, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, urged people to take precautions.

"This is the prime time, the last week of August, the first week of September, when West Nile usually peaks nationally. People need to be using their insect repellent right now," she said.

The Procter family said they hope the teen makes a full recovery. In an update on a GoFundMe page he created, Proctor’s father said doctors removed his son’s breathing tube “and gave him a [tracheostomy tube] to start breathing rehab and physical therapy.”

“Our son is very weak at the moment making small but vast improvements,” John Procter V wrote. “His left arm is still very weak, he can’t move his neck or sit up [on] his own. Please continue to keep BB lifted up in prayer, pray for our family and his friends during this traumatic time and keep doctors and medical staff elevated in prayer as well.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical adviser to the Biden administration, was recently hospitalized with the virus. He told the health news site STAT that he’d “never been as sick in my life.”

“I really felt like I’d been hit by a truck,” Fauci, 83, said, adding, “By far, this is the worst I’ve ever been with an illness.”

Fauci, who was the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he initially felt like he was coming down with an upper respiratory infection. But he soon began experiencing “shaking chills” and a high fever, and he felt weak.

He was taken to the hospital on Aug. 16, according to STAT.

Fauci, who is recovering at home, told the news site that the illness left him so weak that he initially couldn’t stand without help.

“I just have to rest,” he said. “The good news is I’m absolutely going in the right direction. The sobering news is that it’s going to take weeks and weeks to get back to normal. That’s the history of West Nile. It just wipes you out so badly.”