Dr. Anthony Fauci was hospitalized for nearly a week earlier this month with West Nile virus, according to a spokesman for the official, after which the 83-year-old continued his recovery at home.

The former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) contracted the mosquito-borne illness but is expected to make a full recovery, a spokesperson told Fox News. The top COVID-19 official led NIAID for four decades and advised both the administrations of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden during the pandemic before retiring in 2022.

“Tony Fauci has been hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus. He is now home and recovering. A full recovery is expected,” the spokesperson said.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), West Nile virus has been the leading cause of mosquito-borne illness since it first entered the U.S. in 1999. Symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, and rash, although about 80% of those who contract it will not experience any symptoms.

According to the CDC, there are no vaccines or treatments for the virus.

In 2020, Fauci became the public face of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing widespread criticism from Republican lawmakers for his views on the origins of COVID-19 and his imposition of mask mandates, vaccinations, and lockdowns.

Fauci testified before the House Oversight Committee’s Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic at a January hearing, where he acknowledged that COVID-19-era restrictions were likely not based on data or science, but rather “just happened.”

“After two days of testimony and 14 hours of questioning, many things became clear,” Republican Congressman Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee, said in a statement after the hearing. “During his interview today, Dr. Fauci asserted that the policies and mandates he promoted could unfortunately increase vaccine hesitancy for years to come. He testified that the lab leak hypothesis — which has been suppressed — was not, in fact, a conspiracy theory. Furthermore, the social distancing recommendations imposed on Americans appeared ‘out of the blue’ and were likely not based on scientific data.”

The former COVID-19 adviser has repeatedly dismissed theories about lab leaks as conspiracy theories, despite the Biden administration reportedly shutting down a State Department investigation into the origins of the virus in 2021.

Main Image: Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

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