Former Santa Barbara Resident Shares Health Scare With West Nile Virus
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - Hot, muggy weather across parts of California this year has triggered a dangerous surge in mosquitoes and cases of West Nile Virus.
One Los Angeles man knows all too well.
To date, medical experts in the Golden State have logged nearly 300 cases across 24 counties; Los Angeles County is one of the hardest hit.
Paul Vercammen, a former CNN journalist and KEYT news director, shared details of his debilitating experience in hopes of educating and protecting others.
"I just want everybody to take every precaution possible."
Vercammen is currently Communications Director at ShelterBox USA and has traveled extensively for both work and pleasure. He said he contracted the potentially fatal virus early last month while on a golf course at dusk in Van Nuys.
"Kind of goofing around, hitting some golf balls," said Vercammen. "I had on shorts, probably not long socks, as I recall. And I came home with mosquito bites and I didn't have on any protection. And I really regret it."
Vercammen received a Red Cross notification after donating blood: he'd tested positive for West Nile.
"The Red Cross ends up sort of being a hero in all of this," he said.
Days later, brain fog set in and then, a high fever. Eventually, it was a trip to the ER.
Like dozens of people so far this year, Vercammen ended up in the hospital with meningitis encephalitis, severe swelling of the brain, caused by the virus.
"When I first got to UCLA, they obviously rigged me up with every sort of brain test and contraption you could imagine."
The County of Los Angeles Public Health updates numbers daily on its website.
"Something like 216 confirmed cases and ten deaths," said Vercammen. "And one of the reasons I think that's significant is there's a lot of people probably have West Nile virus and don't realize it. They feel like it's the flu. They get through it. But unfortunately for me, I got hit by a rather, targeted mosquito and it, sent me to the hospital."
People over 50 are more at risk for severe reactions.
The former, longtime Santa Barbara County resident said he endured a 5-day hospital stay with a horrific headache and balance issues.
He said the most frightening part of his ordeal was "aphasia" -- an inability to articulate words. Anyone who knows Paul Vercammen can attest, he's a wordsmith!
"When they asked me, for example, this is how bad the aphasia was, 'What is your pain level 1 to 10, 10 being the highest?' I garbled something about LinkedIn, g-mail and, something about Instagram. I couldn't get a sentence together and that was haunting."
Vercammen wants people to know the dangers of standing water, whether it's in a public pond or a dog dish or flower pot in the backyard.
"There's little pools of water everywhere, and those are mosquito breeding grounds," he said.
Vercammen pointed out the irony that ShelterBox USA supplies mosquito netting to other countries to help protect people from mosquito-borne illnesses.
We have simple, effective measures here at home.
"Wear your bug spray. Wear long pants. Long socks, long sleeves. Don't be out there at dusk. Keep your eyes open. If you start to see clusters of mosquitoes, might just be time to go back inside."
