Photo: Getty Images
A Connecticut father died Monday (October 14) from complications of an infected mosquito bite that occurred five years prior in his own backyard, the New York Post reports.
Richard Pawuski, 49, of Colchester, suffered from Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare but "severe" disease that targets the brain and results in rapid physical deterioration if not quickly fatal. Pawuski's death followed another EEE death in September, which was the first from the state of New York in nearly a decade.
Pawuski was reported to have died at 2:30 a.m., one week after being admitted into a hospice, at which point doctors said "there wasn't much else" that could have been done for him, his daughter, Amellia, 18, told the New York Post. The father ultimately died from Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an untreatable staph infection, combined with other ailments brought on by EEE, including a bacterial infection in his heart, a deteriorated liver and traumatic brain injury.
Pawuski was clearing brush in his wooded backyard in August 2019 when he was bitten by the infected mosquito, having vomited yellow bile and complained of intense headaches the following day. Pawuski underwent emergency surgery to relieve the swelling in his brain, however, landed in a coma for two months due to complications from the procedure.
Pawuski, a cancer survivor and diabetes patient, was extremely health conscious prior to the infection and doctors were unaware of the sudden deterioration until other EEE causes started being reported in Connecticut. Four total cases were reported in the state in 2019 and Pawuski was considered to be the sole survivor during his battle.