Fountain Hills man dies of West Nile virus
Jessica Coomes
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 13, 2005 12:00 AM
FOUNTAIN HILLS - A 74-year-old man from Fountain Hills died after battling the West Nile virus for three weeks.
Dan Cullinan, a retired teacher and part-time bartender, is the third person in Maricopa County this year to die because of complications from the virus, a county health official confirmed Wednesday.
"It got worse and worse," said Julie Cullinan, his wife of 43 years. "It was absolutely horrific. I've been through so much stuff, and I've never seen anything like this."
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Cullinan went to the hospital with flulike symptoms, including nausea, high temperature and aches. Less than a week later, Cullinan was unconscious, paralyzed and on life support, his wife said. He died Monday evening.
Mosquitoes carrying the West Nile virus were found in northeast Fountain Hills earlier this month, and the county has fogged in the area from McDowell Mountain Road to Grande Boulevard and from Saguaro Boulevard to San Carlos Drive.
Although the number of fatalities from West Nile is down from last year, county health officials encourage people to remove standing water from outside plants and buckets and to report stagnant water to the county.
The county also advises repairing windows with holes as well as wearing mosquito repellant and long clothes while outside, especially before dawn and after dusk.
The other West Nile casualties in the county this year were a Northwest Valley man in his 60s and a central Phoenix woman in her 80s.
Health officials confirmed 56 human West Nile cases in Maricopa County this year. Last year, 355 people in the county had the virus, 15 of whom died.
It's unknown where Cullinan contracted the mosquito-borne virus, said Emily Poland, a spokeswoman for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.
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