drct Anthony fouchi is in recovery after Contracting the West Nile virus on Saturday August 24 a spokesperson for the 83-year-old former director of the National Institute of allergy and infectious diseases told the Washington Post that he was hospitalized but is now recovering at home a full recovery is expected the spokesperson said in a statement the post reported that an Insider close to fouchi said that he is unsure of how he contracted the virus and that he was hospitalized for 6 days doctor Jonathan lauk CBS News chief medical correspondent posted on X that he had spoken with fouchi who told him he was hospitalized about 10 days ago and he had developed fever chills and severe fatigue evaluation revealed that he had been infected with the West Nile Virus likely from a mosquito bite that he got in his backyard lauk wrote he left the hospital 3 days ago and is recovering at home leuk also said the prognosis is for a full recovery West Nile Virus is often spread through the bite of an infected mosquito or sometimes Birds according to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention CDC it can be found in the US as well as in other parts of the world symptoms of the virus can include developing a fever headache body aches vomiting diarrhea or rashes although there is no vaccine for West Nile Virus the CDC says that people can avoid Contracting the Disease by using bug spray wearing long sleeves or pants if they know they'll be around mosquitoes and taking steps to prevent mosquitoes from getting indoors fouchi served in the NIH for more than four decades advising to help create public policy to deal with HIV AIDS SARS Ms Aven influenza swine flu zika and Ebola throughout his career he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom the national medal of science the marry Woodard Lasker award for public service and 62 honorary doctoral degrees he gained notoriety in 2020 for his work advising the public and then president Donald Trump during the covid-19 pandemic and if people start to really realize that we're much more the same than we are different we will get away from that vital and that hatred because that's untenable fouchi added and even if you are on that camp of being vitriolic deep down you got to realize that that's not a solution it's just not