Former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Anthony Fauci is recovering at home after being hospitalized with West Nile virus, a spokesperson said.

Fauci, who served as NIH director for 38 years, is expected to recover fully, the spokesperson added.

The virus most often occurs in temperate climates where its usual viral carriers, mosquitos, thrive. In the United States, the months of August and September see the most activity. As of August 20, 216 cases have been reported this year in 33 states, with 142 neuroinvasive cases, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

About 1,000 Americans are hospitalized each year with the most severe form of West Nile virus, which is spread through the bite of infected mosquitoes. Another 1,500, on average, are diagnosed after developing symptoms, although experts estimate that as many as 80% of infections in the U.S. are never identified.

There’s no vaccine for West Nile virus. A majority of cases are mild, just causing flu-like symptoms and a rash. But in about 1 in 150 cases, the virus invades the brain and nervous system, which can lead to brain swelling, brain damage, or death. About 100 people die from West Nile infections in the U.S. each year.

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Fauci, 83, has continued to face attacks from Republicans and independents such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is a vaccine skeptic. GOP lawmakers grilled him in a House hearing in June, most accusing him of orchestrating a cover-up of COVID-19’s origins, which Fauci fiercely rejected as “simply preposterous.”

The infectious disease expert said Republicans have distorted emails between himself and other scientists as they discussed whether a laboratory leak of the coronavirus was possible.