Treatment helps in fight with West Nile

Carson Valley native Chris Cordes said interferon was probably the key in his successful fight against West Nile encephalitis, a serious form of the disease that causes swelling of the brain.

His condition showed little if any improvement over time and after obtaining permission, Reno physician Dr. Charles Krasner prescribed one shot of interferon per day, for one week.

"I started to respond about the fifth day," Cordes said. "Everyone says the interferon is what helped me. I'm over the West Nile, but it will take time to get my strength back."

Cordes, who is 74, contracted the disease in August. Symptoms started with a very shaky hand and what he described as overwhelming body and joint aches. Over time, the shaking grew worse.

"My wife took me to the emergency room that night. They gave me all the tests they could, but came up with nothing," he said. "They thought I had a small stroke."

He was sent home and told to call 911 if the symptoms worsened. They did.

"By the third day he was really sick, with chills and headaches," Betty Cordes said. "He couldn't stand up."

He was then transported to Carson Tahoe Regional Medical Center where they gave him another series of tests, Chris Cordes said.

"They thought I had Parkinson's Disease," he said.

"Chris was in intensive care for two days," Betty Cordes said. "He was out of it at first. He was looking at people but I could tell, it wasn't registering."

A blood test came back positive for West Nile about four days after he was admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit. He was subsequently moved to the acute care ward and then to rehabilitation, in a stay that lasted 24 days.

Interferon is a naturally-occurring protein used to fight Hepatitis C and some leukemias. The treatment is experimental and required permission from his wife.

"They said West Nile resembles Hepatitis C more than any other illness they could find," she said. "He (Dr. Krasner) was looking for the serious cases in people with any kind of compromised medical condition. That's when West Nile is more serious,"

Anyone in good health probably won't even know they have the disease, but age compromises the immune system, health officials told Betty Cordes.

"The whole purpose is not to cure, but to minimize residual side effects and it worked, she said. "I think he'll make a 100-percent recovery."

"I consider myself real lucky," Chris Cordes said. "After I got West Nile, we started hearing about other cases and some are not that lucky. One person was paralyzed and another girl is on a respirator."

Spread by infected mosquitoes, West Nile can cause life-altering and even fatal disease.

Although September may start feeling like fall, it is still peak season for West Nile and it's important that residents not let their guard down. Mosquito breeding sites around the home, for example any standing water, should be eliminated.

People are encouraged to continue wearing mosquito repellent and wear long sleeves and pants when outdoors during the mornings and evenings when mosquitoes are out, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

• Contact reporter Susie Vasquez at svasquez@recordcourier.com or 782-5121, ext. 211.

About West Nile Virus

• A seasonal epidemic that flares up in the summer and continues into the fall, West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitoes that acquire the infection when they feed on infected birds.

• It's important to wear insect repellent with DEET, Picaridin or oil of lemon eucalyptus when outdoors, especially at dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. Long sleeves and pants are recommended, and people should remove any standing water around their homes that could provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Check that screens on windows and doors fit properly.

• It is estimated that about 20 percent of people who become infected with West Nile will develop West Nile fever. Symptoms include fever, headache, tiredness, and body aches, occasionally with a skin rash - on the trunk of the body - and swollen lymph glands. While the illness can be as short as a few days, even healthy people have reported being sick for several weeks.

- Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention