A father has died following a five-year battle with the mosquito-borne virus Eastern equine encephalitis that he caught in his own backyard.
Richard Pawuski, 49, a health conscious man who never drank alcohol, had been clearing the wooded area behind his home in Colchester, Connecticut, in August 2019 when he was bitten.
He didn’t feel it at the time, but days later he noticed a new red lump and started to suffer intense headaches and vomit a yellow bile.
What followed was a years-long battle that saw the virus spread to his brain and put Mr Pawuski into a coma.
Richard Pawuski, 49, has died after a five-year battle with Eastern equine encephalitis. He is pictured above with his wife Malgorzata and daughter Amelia
Mr Pawuski is pictured above in hospital. He spent five years battling the infection which had spread to his brain
He died early Monday this week, the New York Post reported, seven days after being admitted to a hospice.
His cause of death was listed as an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that proved too difficult to treat alongside his other Triple E ailments, including a bacterial infection in his heart, a deteriorating liver and a traumatic brain injury.
Triple E targets the nervous system, but prolonged infections can also weaken the immune system because it can become overworked.
His daughter Amelia, 18, 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.’
In January 2020, Mr Pawuski — who worked as a personal trainer — described his infection as like ‘going through hell’ and said he ‘wouldn’t wish this on anyone’.
His death comes as Triple E cases in the US reach a four-year high, with 16 cases recorded this year — mostly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. About 33 percent of patients who fall seriously ill die from the infection.
Scientists say this is being fueled by warmer temperatures speeding mosquitoes life cycles and allowing them to spread into new areas.
At least two people have died from the infection this year, also including a 41-year-old New Hampshire man who died following a week-long battle with the disease.
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Residents in areas of Massachusetts were put into voluntary lockdown after dark in August this year over the virus, while New York state issued an ‘imminent threat to health’ warning in September for Ulster County.
Mr Pawuski, who emigrated to the US from Poland, was a tee-totaller who never drank alcohol, a cancer survivor and diabetes patient.
Mr Pawuski said in a 2020 interview that the infection was like ‘going through hell’ and said he ‘wouldn’t wish this on anyone’
At the time he was bitten, he and his wife — who immigrated to the US from Poland — had just purchased their first home in Colchester and were enjoying their first summer with a pool in their backyard.
After he was admitted in August 2019, doctors initially performed surgery on his skull to relieve pressure on his brain — which had become swollen and inflamed due to the infection.
Mr Pawuski died on Monday early in the morning
Complications during this surgery led to him being left in a coma for two months, with the family advised he would not recover.
After they agreed and transferred him to a hospice and made funeral arrangements, however, Mr Pawuski suddenly woke up and started talking again.
In late 2019, Mr Pawuski stuck out his tongue when his mother asked him to — indicating that he understood her but was not able to speak.
By January 2020, he was reported to be calling his wife Malgorzata every night and holding conversations with his daughter in a soft and low voice.
His family even said that he had managed to stand up again after physical therapy, reported Boston.com at the time, which was the first time since he had been admitted to the hospital.
But his health took a turn again and what followed was years of him being repeatedly transferred between hospitals and nursing homes where he would slip in and out of consciousness.
The above graph shows Triple E cases in the US by year since 2003. There have been 16 cases recorded so far this year, according to the CDC, or a four-year high
This map shows where cases have been reported in 2024, with a cluster of infections in Massachusetts and New Hampshire
The above shows a breakdown of the patients who were diagnosed with Triple E by sex and by age group
He was also left battling a traumatic brain injury, liver and kidney complications, seizures and routine bouts of pneumonia.
Just before his death this week, his daughter revealed that he remained lucid enough to tell his family that he loved them.
Doctors say that most patients infected with Triple E do not develop symptoms or only have mild signs like a fever or muscle aches.
In rare and more serious cases, symptoms appear four to ten days after the mosquito bite and cause an illness similar to the flu.
The virus attacks the central nervous system, meaning patients may also suffer from brain swelling and symptoms like confusion and seizures.
There is no cure for an infection, with doctors instead fighting the disease via bed rest, drinking fluids and over-the-counter pain medications.
About 33 percent of patients who fall seriously ill die from the disease.
Mosquitoes tend to become infected with Triple E after they suck the blood of an infected bird. They then pass the virus on to humans when they also bite them.
