Plague Monkey Husband

Ok, the Adorable Husband was sick over the weekend, stayed home from work on Monday, and has been sick and headachy and generally icky since last Sunday.

He has a horrible headache, everything aches, feverish with chills...and now, SPOTS. He's definitely got West Nile Fever.

So, from the CDC:

It is estimated that about 20% of people who become infected with WNV will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash (on the trunk of the body) and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.

The symptoms of severe disease (also called neuroinvasive disease, such as West Nile encephalitis or meningitis or West Nile poliomyelitis) include headache, high fever, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, and paralysis. It is estimated that approximately 1 in 150 persons infected with the West Nile virus will develop a more severe form of disease. Serious illness can occur in people of any age, however people over age 50 and some immunocompromised persons (for example, transplant patients) are at the highest risk for getting severely ill when infected with WNV.

He had blood drawn to test for West Nile last week. They won't get results for another few days, but he definitely looks like he's managed to get it. I'm the one who gets eaten alive by mosquitos -- quite literally, dozen of bites -- and he gets bitten three times and gets sick. It's self-limiting, in most cases, and most people recover in a few days, despite all the hype and scare-words in the CDC page. We're not sure how I managed to avoid this, unless I really did have a very mild case last year that has given me some immunity. Colorado is expecting a very bad year for West Nile this year.

So far, he's not staying home from work -- he's not listening to me! I think he should be home, in bed (or at the very least in the chair) until he feels better! Send him emails and tell him to stay home!