Was anyone here ever warned by the CDC that persons "carriers" for encephalitis can kill you with a peck on the cheek?
Why not, it seems pretty important to me? I'm busy spraying misquitos with chemicals that lower MY resistance, when the threat is clearly much more pervasive than a bug bite!
Was it the US developed biological agent called WestNileVirus WNV/EEE EasternEquineEncephalitis that was passed by a kiss on the cheek in 1997 in Upton Mass? Or is there yet another name tied to this diagnosis?
The article does not specify, but rest assured, it's only a symantic shell game funded by your tax dollars, where the pea is the same even though one shell is labeled WNV another EEE, as documents now surfacing confirm (ref: www.tetrahedron.org ).
...for educational and research purposes...
Article:
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Rare malady hits Upton 3-year-old
Friday, September 15, 2000
By Dan De Leo
Telegram & Gazette Staff
&& UPTON-- She carries her son in her arms and lays him on the couch of their tiny two-bedroom home on a quiet, tree-lined street in northern Upton.
Even Heidi Dugas, a small, athletic looking woman with bright but fierce eyes and a determined, serious expression on her face, gets tired.
Caring for Conor, her 3-year-old son, is a 24-hour job, she says, sitting at a round wood table just a few feet from her only child.
He is sleepy now, though the seizures that keep him up all night attack him again as he tries to doze in front of the bluish glow of the TV.
Each time his eyelids begin to sag and his mouth parts ever so slightly, his brain misfires. The errant impulse sends his little arms and hands shooting out in front of him. The jolt even reaches his skinny fingers, which open wide, as if he were getting ready to catch a big beach ball.
And then he is awake again, denied the rest his body needs. He tilts his head back, and calls to his mother, not with any audible sound, but with those big bright eyes that look just like hers.
“Momma's here,” Heidi calls from the table. And she goes to him, and puts her soothing hand on his arm.
Conor Dugas suffers from encephalitis, a disease that has made headlines all summer long, as the West Nile virus, one strain of the disease, crept its way into New England.
Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. It can be life threatening, cause comas and severe, irreversible brain damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
And there is no treatment for it, other than supportive care, according to a CDC official.
Conor contracted a rare resistant strain of the virus, doctors believe, when a carrier kissed him when he was just 8 weeks old.
Heidi and Robert Dugas both thought their son was suffering from a common cold. But his body temperature shot up and he had to be rushed to the hospital. While waiting in the emergency room, Conor suffered a seizure. He began shaking all over. He lost consciousness. And that wasn't the end of it. He had 30 more seizures that day.
For two and a half weeks, the Dugases awaited test results that would reveal the cause of Conor's illness.
Finally, the results were in. Doctors told the Dugases to expect the worst.
“They were preparing us for taking home a vegetable,” said Robert Dugas, Conor's father.
The Dugases quickly learned how serious the situation was. A spectrum of emotions followed.
“At first we were confused and dazed,” Heidi says. “Then we went through the anger phase. But eventually, we learned to deal with it -- and we learned that life goes on.”
It has been a battle for them.
The virus destroyed the left hemisphere of Conor's brain, and a good portion of his right hemisphere. He cannot walk or talk. It is not clear if he will ever gain those skills, his parents say.
“But we push him as hard as he can go,” Heidi says.
“And he has blown the doctors away,” Robert says.
Conor still has about 200 seizures a day. Finding the right medication to control them has been nearly impossible. He has gone through 15 different drugs with little success. It's a frightening decision for the young parents, whether to put Conor on drugs that come with two pages of potential serious side effects, but might also control his seizures.
They are still searching for that miracle drug, and have even tried medication not yet approved by the FDA.
For the past three years, the Dugases have been coping with their lives as best they can. Conor's illness and health care needs have drained them financially, because they spare no expense when it comes to him.
He has 20 doctors and spends about half the year in the hospital. The plastic foot braces he needs to help keep his feet straight cost $1,200, and his wheelchair was another $4,000. His health insurance covered equipment costs up to only $1,500, his parents said.
The Dugases say they feel taken advantage of, to some degree, by the health care industry.
Indeed, it wasn't until last November that their health insurance provider agreed to pay for a private nurse for Conor, which he desperately needed. First they said he wasn't sick enough, then they said he was too sick, Heidi said.
Finally, they began sending a nurse to the Dugas household for 10 hours a week, which was enough time to let Heidi get out of the house to go food shopping.
Recently, Conor's secondary health insurance approved 30 hours of nursing care per week.
And the Dugases are trying to take other steps to improve Conor's care. They hope to expand their small home to provide him with a bathroom designed for a disabled person.
Some of Robert Dugas' co-workers are helping to raise money for the materials and labor for the expansion.
The Dugases also hope to provide better transportation for their son. Conor is growing fast, and the Dugases are trying to provide him with a handicapped-accessible wheelchair van.
The Upton community has rallied around the Dugases in this endeavor. Just about every group in town has pitched in to organize a Conor Dugas Day on Sept. 30, which will include a 5K walk, a pancake breakfast, barbecue and soccer games. The proceeds will go to the Conor Michael Dugas Fund, an account set up at the Unibank For Savings in Upton.
“We all know how precious children are, and when a family is so deeply affected because of a tragic situation, everyone rallies around them,” said Colette Rooney, who is helping with one of the events. “I look at my children, and I realize how lucky I am.”
Though their son is fighting a terrible illness, the Dugases say they feel lucky to have him in their lives.
Aside from his disability, he is like any other little boy, they say.
He likes Britney Spears, trucks, wrestling. And he flirts with his nurses, Heidi says.
Though they will never know how or why this happened to their child, those questions have long been put behind them. Caring for their son has taken priority over everything else in their lives.
And with help from their family, friends, and the community, they hope to make Conor's life a little better.
“It's tough to ask for a handout,” Robert Dugas says, “but then I just look at my son's face, and I know what we're doing is right.”
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