'The sickest I've ever been'

38-year-old Bakersfield man still feels effects of the disease
BY EMILY HAGEDORN , Californian staff writer
e-mail: ehagedorn@bakersfield.com | Thursday, Aug 23 2007 9:35 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Aug 23 2007 10:12 PM
Matthew Arambula doesn't even have the mosquito bite to show for his recent battle with West Nile virus.

Matthew Arambula, a tree maintainer with Bakersfield's Department of Recreation and Parks, recently recovered from a bout of West Nile Virus. Arambula is one of 78 people to have contracted the virus in Kern County and one of 137 sickened statewide.
Fever of 104 degrees. Full-body rash. Chills. Dizziness. Body aches. Shaking.

Arambula, an otherwise healthy man of 38, suffered those unpleasant symptoms from the mosquito-borne disease but has no mark and no idea when or where he was bitten.

"I probably scratched it and didn't even think about it," said the northeast Bakersfield resident, waiting for his daughter's soccer game to start at O.J. Actis Junior High School Wednesday night. "What could a mosquito do to a 230-pound person?

"Well, it's the sickest I've ever been."

Arambula is one of 78 people to have contracted the virus in Kern County and one of 137 sickened statewide.

His ordeal started the week of July 9, he said, when he woke up feeling flu-ish.
"It felt like someone hit me in the back," he said. "It's the flu. It will pass. That's what everybody thinks."

A few days later he donated blood to Houchin Blood Bank at his workplace. Arambula works as a tree maintainer for the city of Bakersfield but said he could have been bitten anywhere -- playing outside with his daughters or watching them play softball and soccer.

Though his symptoms were becoming more severe, he was still working when he got a call from the blood bank the next day telling him to get to a doctor.

Houchin, which tests blood for about 14 different diseases, has flagged more West Nile cases than any other blood bank in the state, with roughly 17 people testing positive at the local facility, said Houchin CEO Greg Gallion.

Arambula's physician told him there is no treatment besides plenty of rest, Arambula said.

Despite the lack of an antidote, residents who think they may have the virus should seek medical care because symptoms can include deadly infections, respiratory problems and paralysis, which do require monitoring, said Dr. Boyce Dulan, deputy county health officer and director of disease control.

Every day with the virus was different, Arambula said. A few days after experiencing the first symptoms, he had what looked like a heat rash covering most of his body, said daughter Mariana Arambula, 13, who helped keep an eye on her dad when he was sick.

"He was not himself," she said. "I've never seen him like that before."
By that Sunday, the dizziness and loss of breath set in.
"I would walk from here to that tree," he said, pointing to a tree 30 feet away, "and get winded."

He was off work about two weeks, and some symptoms still haven't subsided; others he may have for the rest of his life.

Mariana has noticed he tires more easily now. His hands sometimes start shaking for no reason.

"It's part paralysis," he said. "It (West Nile) affects your nervous system."
Before getting West Nile, the last time Arambula wore mosquito repellent was probably when he was a child, he said.

"It's just like anything else, it's never going to happen to them," he said.
Watching as her younger sister kicked the ball around the field, Mariana said she wasn't wearing mosquito repellent.

"If more people probably started getting it, I wouldn't leave the house without it," she said.

When told that Kern County has the most cases of any county in the nation, she gave a one-word response.
"Oh!"