Briton fights for life after mosquito bite gives him rare disease

A few weeks ago, Michael Nicholson was celebrating his 35th birthday by fishing with family and friends in New Hampshire.

But now he is lying in a coma back in a British hospital. Even if he survives, he is expected to be left with severe brain damage.

Mr Nicholson, a decorator from Livingston in Scotland, is believed to be the first European to contract Eastern Equine Encephalitis, also known as Triple E.

The disease - which has a mortality rate of 35 per cent and no known cure - is confirmed in an average of five people a year in the U.S.

It is found in mosquitoes in freshwater areas of the eastern states.

Mr Nicholson complained of multiple bites, mainly on his ankles, after spending several days fishing on New Hampshire's Saco River.

The state attracts thousands of British tourists every year and is a favourite destination of Gordon Brown.

Mr Nicholson's sister, Sharan McKenzie, decided to speak out about the condition in an attempt to warn others.

She said: "I'm sure most people are like me in thinking that if you are bitten by a mosquito in the U.S., it's the same as somewhere like Spain - irritating but not life-threatening.

"Triple E may be a rare condition but, as Michael's case shows, it can happen to anyone.

"Only time will tell, but we have been told he is likely to be severely disabled at best.

"If there is no cure, then surely the only thing we can do is try to prevent another case happening by raising public awareness."

Mrs McKenzie, 38, picked her brother up from Glasgow Airport on August 30 after his six-week trip.

She said: "On the way home, he mentioned he had been bitten by mosquitoes.

"He had bites around his ankles and they looked red and raw but we didn't really think that much of it. He was feeling tired but nothing unusual. He was talking about what a great time he had and how much he'd been fishing, which he loves."

The following morning, Mr Nicholson was taken to Livingston's St John's Hospital after having a seizure at his GP's clinic.

Within days, he had lost consciousness and was transferred to intensive care. Puzzled by his decline, doctors sent Mr Nicholson to a specialist neuroscience unit at the Western General in Edinburgh.

"All they could say was a virus had gone up his spinal cord and attacked his brain and caused serious damage, but they still didn't know what the cause was,' said Mrs McKenzie.

In fact, the mosquito bite connection with Triple E was found only two weeks later after Mrs McKenzie did some research of her own on the internet and alerted doctors.

Triple E can infect a wide range of animals, but transmission to humans is rare. Even then, many infected humans do not develop the illness.

Symptoms develop over three to ten days, ranging from mild flu-like illness to inflammation of the brain, coma and death.

The current advice is simply to try to avoid mosquito bites by wearing repellent and protective clothing.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We will need to look into this case and will be issuing advice to the UK public about how to protect themselves from the disease."