Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is calling for greater international cooperation for vaccine development against mosquito-borne West Nile virus following what he described as a “harrowing experience” with infection this summer.
“There are many people who have not been as lucky as I have been in my recovery,” Fauci wrote in an opinion piece published Monday in the New York Times. “Considerably more resources must be put into addressing this threat now, not when the threat becomes an even greater crisis.”
Fauci’s op-ed is his first complete public statement following his hospitalization with a severe case of the infection in August.
The former top White House COVID-19 adviser to Donald Trump and Joe Biden described his experience as “terrifying,” both physically and mentally debilitating. He wrote that the virus “nearly took me down.”
Fauci, 83, said he “could not stand up without assistance and certainly could not walk,” and suffered from significant disorientation and brain fog. He said his cognitive troubles have been resolved and his physical stamina is improving.
West Nile virus, the most common mosquito-borne disease in the United States, has infected about 60,000 patients since 1999, when it was first reported in New York City.
About 30,000 patients in that 25-year period have developed neurological symptoms as Fauci did, 23,000 have been hospitalized, and nearly 3,000 have died.
According to the World Health Organization, about 1 in 5 people infected with West Nile virus will develop a fever and one in 150 will develop serious illness, including neurological problems.
As of Tuesday, there have been 880 cases this year alone in the U.S., including 605 neuroinvasive cases, reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention across 46 states.
Multiple states, particularly in the northeast, have also struggled this year with Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, a rarer but more deadly infection with even higher rates of neurological problems or death for those infected.
Fauci said that he and his NIAID colleagues struggled with efforts to make a vaccine for West Nile and other similar viruses because the yearly fluctuations in cases both make clinical trials difficult and disrupt market incentives for product development compared to more consistent diseases, such as cancer or obesity.
But Fauci’s personal experience with West Nile virus has spurred him to advocate a more concerted international effort to develop vaccines and antivirals for stubborn mosquito-borne diseases, particularly as climate change lengthens the breeding season and habitat space for what he called “the deadliest animal on the planet.”
“To be successful, clinical trials must be international and include countries with a consistent and large number of cases each year,” Fauci said. “The pathway to a vaccine cannot be in the United States alone.”
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The former NIAID director, who retired in 2022 after nearly 40 years in the position, touted the “global public-private partnerships between the [National Institutes of Health] and the drug industry” that have led to vaccine development for hepatitis B and COVID-19 as examples that such cooperation toward a West Nile vaccine is possible.
“With international research partnerships and political will spurred by an engaged activist community such as we have seen with H.I.V. and now long Covid, West Nile virus treatments and prevention tools should be within our grasp,” Fauci said.