CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A North Carolina boy is fighting for his life at Levine Children’s hospital in Charlotte after he was bitten by a mosquito.
In June, JJ Wise, 11, from Burnsville, got a headache that didn't seem to go away.
His mother said he started talking nonsense and also had a manic episode.
Click here for more information on La Crosse encephalitis
After numerous hospital visits and tests, doctors finally determined he contracted both La Crosse encephalitis virus and enterovirus.
He suffered a stroke and was put in an induced coma.
“You saw the picture, the bag of IVs, the pressure monitor in his head. A mosquito, that's all this was. It was all because of a mosquito,” mother Kimberly Wise said.
La Crosse virus is transmitted through mosquitos and can become much more serious than the Zika virus, especially in children younger than 16.
Many people infected with it show no symptoms, but those who do become ill develop fever, headache and nausea. Severe cases can cause seizures, coma and paralysis.
JJ has been at Levine's since Friday and is improving.
His family hopes he'll be out of the hospital in a couple of weeks, but he'll have years of outpatient therapy.
To learn more about La Crosse, click here.
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