GenoMed has announced that it successfully treated its thirteenth patient with presumed West Nile virus encephalitis

The patient is a previously healthy man from Aberdeen, South Dakota who developed fever and headache and was diagnosed by his physician as having West Nile virus on Monday of this week. South Dakota has about 50 times higher incidence of West Nile virus this summer than California.

The patient found GenoMed on the Internet, and within 2 hours his physician had started him on an angiotensin II receptor blocker, GenoMed's patent-pending approach to most viral diseases, including West Nile virus. The patient's headache intensified over the next 24 hours, requiring a visit to the Emergency Room, where he was offered a spinal tap, but not hospitalized. The patient went home and slept most of the following day. He awoke in the afternoon without a high fever or neck stiffness any more.

David Moskowitz MD, FACP, GenoMed's Chief Medical Officer and CEO, commented, "This patient demonstrated an extremely rapid resolution of his symptoms, several days faster than expected. Our treatment failed to prevent progression to meningitis, which we've seen before, but it did result in an extremely rapid recovery thereafter, within the next 24 hours. The patient could just as easily have progressed to full-blown coma, which was a concern the night he went to the ER. Normally it takes 3-6 days to recover from West Nile virus meningo-encephalitis. This patient's total recovery time was a bit under 48 hours, and under 24 hours from his worst symptoms of neck stiffness or meningitis."

During the past three summers, GenoMed has treated 16 patients, of whom this patient represents the 13th treatment success (81%). GenoMed has had a 50% treatment success rate in birds, and is eager to treat horses, also.