Dr Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was hospitalized after testing positive for West Nile virus.
Fauci, a longtime public health official who became a household name as part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, has now been discharged and is expected to recover fully, a spokesperson said.
“Tony Fauci has been hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus. He is now home and is recovering. A full recovery is expected,” the spokesperson said in a statement shared with the Washington Post. The outlet reported that Fauci had spent six days in hospital before being discharged.
Fauci, 83, ran the NIAID for nearly four decades before he retired in 2022. As well as fronting the US response to the Covid-19 pandemic, he acheived fame after becoming the target of political attacks from then-president Donald Trump.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States and is most commonly spread to people by the bite of an infected mosquito.
Cases of West Nile occur during mosquito season, which starts in the summer and continues through fall.
There are no vaccines to prevent or medicines to treat West Nile in people, though most people infected with the virus do not feel sick. Around one in five people who are infected develop a fever and other symptoms. About one out of 150 infected people develop a serious, sometimes fatal, illness, according to the CDC.
Despite leaving government nearly two years ago, Fauci has continued to face fierce political attacks from congressional Republicans for his role in the nation’s response to coronavirus.
In June, he testified before a House panel investigating the response, where he was accused by GOP lawmakers of orchestrating a coverup of the virus’s origins. At the time he described the allegations as “simply preposterous.”
After leaving government, Fauci joined the faculty at Georgetown University, and now serves as a distinguished professor in the School of Medicine. He also holds a position in the university’s McCourt School of Public Policy.
Fauci’s recently released memoirOn Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service, details, among other things, his final conversation with Trump in which the former president said he would destroy his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, in the 2020 election.
“I am going to win this election by a f****** landslide,” Trump told Fauci, according to the book.“Just wait and see. I always did things my way. And I always win, no matter what all these other f****** people think. And that f***** Biden. He is so f****** stupid. I am going to kick his f****** a** in this election.”
Biden went on beat Trump in 2020 and Fauci continued to serve as the chief medical advisor to Biden until he retired in 2022.
