Don't let mosquito give you West Nile

Christine Ostler was "complacent" when it came to warnings about West Nile virus. And it nearly killed her.

The Payson woman, 58, was described not two weeks ago by health experts as likely to die from the vicious, neurologic form of the mosquito-borne virus. Today, she's weak, fatigued, can't comprehend what she's reading and calls herself "lucky." She and her husband, David, who was also bitten but suffered milder symptoms, are around to nag their children and grandchildren to wear mosquito repellent when they go out at night.

The Ostlers love to linger in their beautifully landscaped yard. She knew she got several mosquito bites one night but "didn't pay much attention." Nearly a week later, she developed a hideous headache and a rash. Then she got a fever, so she took ibuprofen and wished she felt better.

A few days later, her doctor had her blood tested for West Nile virus, because her symptoms were classic and Utah County has seen close to 20 confirmed human cases this year, several of them with neurologic symptoms. Two of those people have died. By that time, her fever was about 105 and her headache was so painful that her doctor gave her a shot of morphine and sent her to the hospital. She doesn't remember much about the weeklong stay, except for the spinal tap that found the virus in her system.

Meanwhile, her husband had a runny nose, which he chalked up to nothing much, followed by a sore throat, headache and a stiff, sore neck. Had she not been so sick, he said, he probably would have toughed it out. His doctor told him he had the milder West Nile fever, while she had West Nile encephalitis and meningitis.

Norma Sonntag, a semiretired University of Utah health system nurse, had achy joints and a mild headache. A massage eased her joints a bit. Her stomach was "tied in knots," possibly from worrying about why she felt so odd, she says now. A mild analgesic took care of the headache, although it kept coming back. "It was all so fleeting and frustrating," she says. She developed a low-grade fever, so she figured "something's brewing," but she couldn't get a handle on it. She wondered if it could be West Nile, but she wasn't sure. "It was all so puzzling."

She had come-and-go symptoms that included flulike symptoms, lethargy and sweats. When she developed a rash, a dermatologist biopsied it. The pathologist said it was either West Nile, chicken pox or Rocky Mountain fever. When her blood was tested, she became a confirmed Salt Lake County West Nile case.

While Ostler describes her pre-virus mindset as "complacent," Sonntag describes hers as "impervious."