Dr. Anthony Fauci was hospitalized for West Nile virus after a mosquito bite. Who is most at risk?

Dr. Anthony Fauci is recovering at home after being hospitalized for West Nile virus . Fauci, the now 83-year-old who led the country through the COVID-19 pandemic as the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was hospitalized nearly two weeks ago, according to CBS News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr.

Jonathan LaPook, who posted to X that he spoke with Fauci over the phone this weekend. The infectious disease doctor was hospitalized after “developing fever, chills, and severe fatigue,” LaPook shared. “Evaluation revealed that he had been infected with the West Nile virus , likely from a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard.

” What is West Nile virus? West Nile virus was first detected in the 1930s in the West Nile sub-region of Uganda and is now the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the world. It has infected over 2,500 this year in the U.S.

alone and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ), it’s most commonly spread after being bitten by an infected mosquito.

But symptoms of West Nile virus—which could strike anyone, especially during peak mosquito season in the summer and early fall—do not show at all for 70 to 80% of people who are infected, according to the CDC. In fact, just over 50,000 symptomatic cases have been detected in the U.S.

since 1999. People at risk for developing symptoms, including fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and rashes, include those ove.