A man proved to be very unlucky, as one mosquito bite led to him suffering a rare brain disease that resulted in a health battle from hell for years.
The Connecticut man’s family has confirmed he has died following a harrowing five-year health battle after contracting a rare mosquito-borne virus.
Richard Pawuski, was 49 and a former personal trainer who was bitten by a mosquito back in August 2019 while he was in the woodland area behind his home.
At the time, he didn’t even know he had been bitten but after a few days, he began to exhibit serious symptoms.
Pawuski noticed a red lump and began to suffer intense headaches and was vomiting yellow bile.
Richard Pawuski and his wife Margaret before he was stricken with the illness (Amelia Pawuski)
After booking a doctor’s appointment, Pawuski and his family were informed on just how serious the situation was.
Mr Pawuski was diagnosed with ‘Triple E’ (Eastern equine encephalitis), an incurable infection.
The illness is considered rare but severe, as the disease targets the brain, causing rapid physical deterioration and lifelong disabilities if it doesn’t kill you in the first place.
An estimated 33 per cent of patients who fall significantly ill from the illness die from the infection.
The virus attacks a person’s central nervous system meaning that individuals regularly suffer from brain swelling and symptoms like confusion and seizures.
For Pawuski he would be in and out of hospitals and nursing homes for years due to the illness.
He died on Monday, October 14, seven days after being admitted into a hospice, according to the New York Post report.
Richard died seven days after being admitted to a hospice (Amelia Pawuski)
As he was a cancer survivor and diabetic, Pawuski’s immune system was weak before he caught the disease. But the illness weakened his immune system further, leaving him particularly vulnerable to other infections.
His cause of death was listed as an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that proved too difficult to treat, along with a traumatic brain injury, failing liver and a heart infection.
In early 2020, Pawuski explained just how difficult it was to deal with the disease and described his infection as like ‘going through hell’ and said he ‘wouldn’t wish this on anyone’.
Following his death, his 18-year-old daughter Amelia warned of just how serious the disease is. She told the post: “I’m not joking when I say your life can change in the blink of an eye, because that was what happened to us.”
While the disease is rare, it is seeing an increase in the US which scientists believe is due to warmer temperatures speeding mosquitoes’ life cycles and allowing them to spread into new areas.