A father has died after a five-year battle with the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus he contracted in his own backyard.
Richard Pawuski, 49, a health-conscious man who never drank alcohol, was cleaning the wooded area behind his home in Colchester, Connecticut, in August 2019 when he was bitten.
He didn’t feel it at the time, but days later he noticed a new red lump and began to suffer intense headaches and vomit yellow bile.
What followed was a years-long battle in which the virus spread to his brain and put Pawuski in a coma.
Richard Pawuski, 49, died after a five-year battle with eastern equine encephalitis. He appears in the photo above with his wife Malgorzata and daughter Amelia.
Mr. Pawuski is pictured above in the hospital. He spent five years fighting the infection that had spread to his brain.
He died early Monday morning of this week, New York Post reported, seven days after being admitted to a hospice.
His cause of death was listed as an antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection that proved too difficult to treat along with his other Triple E ailments, including a bacterial heart infection, liver deterioration and a traumatic brain injury.
Triple E targets the nervous system, but prolonged infections can also weaken the immune system because it can become overloaded.
Her daughter Amelia, 18, told the Post: “I’m not kidding when I say your life can change in the blink of an eye, because that’s what happened to us.”
In January 2020, Pawuski, who worked as a personal trainer, described his infection as “going through hell” and said he “wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
His death comes as Triple E cases in the United States reach their highest level in four years, with 16 cases recorded this year, primarily in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. About 33 percent of patients who become seriously ill die from the infection.
Scientists say this is because warmer temperatures speed up mosquitoes’ life cycles and allow them to spread to new areas.
At least two people have died from the infection this year, also including a 41-year-old New Hampshire man who died after a week-long battle with the disease.
Residents in areas of Massachusetts were placed on voluntary lockdown after dark in August of this year due to the virus, while New York state issued an “imminent health threat” warning in September for Ulster County.
Pawuski, who immigrated to the United States from Poland, was an alcohol user who never drank alcohol, a cancer survivor and a diabetes patient.
Pawuski said in a 2020 interview that the infection was like “going through hell” and said he “wouldn’t wish this on anyone.”
At the time he was bitten, he and his wife, who immigrated to the United States from Poland, had just bought their first house in Colchester and were enjoying their first summer with a pool in their backyard.
After his admission in August 2019, doctors initially performed surgery on his skull to relieve pressure on his brain, which had become swollen and inflamed due to the infection.
Pawuski passed away early Monday morning
Complications during this surgery left him in a coma for two months and the family reported that he would not recover.
However, after they agreed and moved him to a hospice and arranged the funeral, Mr. Pawuski suddenly woke up and started talking again.
In late 2019, Pawuski stuck out his tongue when his mother asked him to, indicating that he understood her but could not speak.
In January 2020, it was reported that he called his wife Malgorzata every night and carried on conversations with his daughter in a soft, low voice.
His family even said he had managed to stand up again after physical therapy, reported Boston.com at that time, which was the first time since he was admitted to the hospital.
But his health deteriorated again and what followed were years in which he was repeatedly transferred between hospitals and nursing homes, where he fell in and out of consciousness.
The graph above shows Triple E cases in the U.S. by year since 2003. According to the CDC, there have been 16 cases so far this year, or a four-year high.
This map shows where cases were reported in 2024, with a cluster of infections in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
The above shows a breakdown of patients who were diagnosed with Triple E by sex and age group.
He also battled a traumatic brain injury, liver and kidney complications, seizures and routine bouts of pneumonia.
Just before his death this week, his daughter revealed that he remained lucid enough to tell his family he loved them.
Doctors say most patients infected with Triple E develop no symptoms or only mild signs such as fever or muscle aches.
In rare and more severe cases, symptoms appear four to ten days after the mosquito bite and cause a flu-like illness.
The virus attacks the central nervous system, meaning patients can also suffer brain swelling and symptoms such as confusion and seizures.
There is no cure for an infection; Doctors, on the other hand, combat the disease with bed rest, drinking fluids, and over-the-counter pain relievers.
About 33 percent of patients who become seriously ill die from the disease.
Mosquitoes tend to become infected with Triple E after sucking the blood of an infected bird. They then transmit the virus to humans when they bite them too.