West Nile Virus Strikes Missouri – St. Louis Teen Now Paralyzed

You fortunately do not see this very often, but the West Nile virus has struck Missouri hard leaving one St. Louis area teen paralyzed and on a ventilator.

Yahoo News is reporting that a St. Louis County teenager is now receiving support from a ventilator after he became paralyzed in a rare complication of the West Nile virus. 18-year-old John Procter VI knew something was wrong when his speech became slurred and he had impaired body movements.

He now needs help breathing, but there are positive signs that this St. Louis County teen is making improvements including small body movements that give his family hope that he'll be able to make a full recovery.

NBC News says that severe complications from the West Nile virus only affect 1 out of every 150 that become infected. The CDC says the severe West Nile symptoms include "high fever, headache, neck stiffness, stupor, disorientation, coma, tremors, convulsions, muscle weakness, vision loss, numbness and paralysis". If not treated, these severe symptoms can result in death. They say that 1 out of every 10 who are paralyzed by West Nile virus eventually die.

Let's hope this St. Louis County teen makes a full recovery and that West Nile virus infections don't become more numerous in the state of Missouri.