Kenneth "Pete" Clay

August 7, 2005

Last modified August 7, 2005 - 2:22 am
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West Nile's wake: Hysham man still recovering from '03 case

By DIANE COCHRAN
Of The Gazette Staff

Kenneth "Pete" Clay will never know if he got the bug that got him.

"People say, 'Do you remember the mosquito when it bit you?'" said Clay, who contracted West Nile virus two years ago.

He doesn't, and he also doesn't know what happened to the infected skeeter after it bit him - did he smack it, or did it merrily buzz off in search of its next meal?

Clay, 72, was one of 227 Montanans with confirmed cases of West Nile virus in 2003. No human cases have been reported in Montana so far this year, but on Thursday mosquitoes in Sheridan and Prairie counties tested positive for the disease, marking the official start of the 2005 West Nile season.

Clay, a retired Hysham ranch hand, developed the most severe form of the disease, including a life-threatening inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. He nearly died during a 48-day stay at St. Vincent Healthcare.

He left the hospital a near-paraplegic. With physical therapy, he slowly graduated from a wheelchair to a walker and then to leg braces and a pair of silver canes.

"I got to thinking about my life and all the horses I got bucked off, and all the cows and bulls that run over me," Clay said. "Then a little old mosquito comes along. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

Fewer than 1 percent of people who contract West Nile get as sick as Clay did, according to Dr. Doug Moore, chief medical officer for the Yellowstone City-County Health Department.

For the few people who develop symptoms, "it might feel like having the summer flu," Moore said.

But 80 percent of people who get bitten and infected with the virus probably will never know it.

"Most times, the body aborts the infection," said Dr. Todd Damrow, an epidemiologist with the state Department of Public Health and Human Services.

For that reason, an accurate assessment of the disease's presence in Montana is not possible.

Last year, six human cases of West Nile virus were reported. Three of those people were sick enough to require hospitalization. In addition, 11 horses and 31 birds tested positive for the virus in 2004.

That marked a drastic drop from 2003, when 227 people, 193 horses and six birds tested positive. Eighty-six people were hospitalized that year, and four died.

West Nile was detected in Montana for the first time in 2002, when two people tested positive.

A widely available vaccine for horses might explain the drop in equine cases, but health officials are at a loss to explain why so many fewer people got the disease last year than the year before.

And they don't know what to expect this year.

"We can't let our guards down as we enter into early fall," Moore said.

Cases of West Nile usually turn up in August and September, when the species of mosquito that carries the disease is most prevalent.

Clay contracted the virus in late August 2003. At first, he attributed feeling sick to eating too much fried chicken.

But within a couple of days, it was obvious that something else was wrong. In addition to being queasy and vomiting repeatedly, Clay felt so weak that he could not dress himself.

His family drove him to the emergency room in the middle of the night.

"I was so sick at times I don't remember it," he said. "It affected every part of my body."

He developed meningitis, a dangerous swelling of the tissue around the brain and spinal cord, which paralyzed his legs.

After two years of physical therapy and regular exercise, Clay walks with a full-length brace on his right leg, an ankle brace on his left leg and a cane in each hand. He struggles to keep his balance.

"I can see where I've improved since I started walking with the canes, but it seems like I've hit a plateau and stuck there," he said. "It seems like nothing came back naturally. Everything I gained I had to work for."

He cannot stand up without pushing off with his arms, and, when he is seated, he uses his hands to reposition his right leg.

Little research has been done on the long-term effects of West Nile, and Clay doesn't know what the future holds.

"It's just a learning experience," he said.

Diane Cochran may be reached at 657-1287 or dcochran@billingsgazette.com.