Former police chief DuPey gets West Nile-IL

Former police chief DuPey gets West Nile

August 25, 2007

By John Byrne Post-Tribune staff writer

HAMMOND -- Former Hammond Police Chief Frank DuPey Sr. is hospitalized with West Nile virus, according to his wife, Lake County Commissioner Frances "Fran" DuPey.

Frank DuPey has spent more than a week in St. Margaret Mercy Medical Center, his wife said Friday.

"He's past the really critical time as far as surviving, which is the most important thing, because 43 percent of people his age who get this don't make it," DuPey said.

She said her husband ran a fever over 103 degrees for several days, and needed to be wrapped in cooling blankets at the hospital to keep his temperature down.

"He has been sick more than two weeks. At first, doctors thought he had a regular bacteria, and treated him with antibiotics," Fran DuPey said. "But he just kept getting worse."

State health officials this week reported two probable human cases of