Fauci recovers after hospitalization with West Nile virus

Fauci, who served as director of the NIH for 38 years, is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesman added.

The virus is most common in temperate climates, where its usual vectors, mosquitoes, thrive. In the United States, the months of peak activity are August and September. As of August 20, 216 cases have been reported in 33 states this year, including 142 neuroinvasive cases, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 1,000 Americans are hospitalized each year with the most severe form of West Nile virus, which is transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitoes. On average, another 1,500 people are not diagnosed until symptoms appear. But experts estimate that up to 80 percent of infections in the United States are never detected.

There is no vaccine against West Nile virus. Most cases are mild, causing only flu-like symptoms and a rash. However, in about 1 in 150 cases, the virus invades the brain and nervous system, which can cause brain swelling, brain damage, or death. About 100 people die from West Nile infections each year in the United States.

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Fauci, 83, continues to face attacks from Republicans and independents such as vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. GOP lawmakers questioned him at a House hearing in June, primarily accusing him of covering up the origins of COVID-19, which Fauci vehemently rejected as “simply absurd.”

The infectious disease expert said Republicans had doctored emails between him and other scientists in which they discussed the possibility of a coronavirus leak from a laboratory.