A father-of-three from Texas who survived the devastating Hantavirus outbreak understands exactly what it’s like to face death as the virus spreads over the world.
Cam Dockery, 48, told the Daily Mail that he was taken back to the time he contracted the Hantavirus in 2005 after learning of the epidemic aboard the MV Hondius, which has resulted in three confirmed deaths and five more.
Nine Americans in New Jersey, Georgia, California, Texas, Virginia, and Arizona are under medical observation due to possible exposure, although no cases have been confirmed in the US as of yet. The tragic ship is scheduled to land in Tenerife tonight, and the US is sending an evacuation flight to save the 17 Americans trapped on board.
Dockery, a chainsaw carver, told the Daily Mail that he contracted the virus 21 years ago when travelling to New Mexico for work with his brother in order to obtain logs for his company.
He claimed that after returning to his hometown of Whitewright from the trip, he felt completely normal. However, a few days later, he suddenly developed a serious illness that included a debilitating headache and an abnormally high body temperature.
He told the Daily Mail, “I told my wife, “I think my brain is melting,” as the headache and fever intensified.
His family rushed him to the emergency room the next day, and he was taken to the University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock.
He spent two weeks at UMC, had a ventilator for much of his stay, and the medical staff predicted he would not survive.
After getting the Hantavirus in 2005, Cam Dockery—pictured with his family—told the Daily Mail that he was admitted to the hospital and placed on a ventilator.
On May 4, more than 140 passengers on the cruise ship MV Hondius—pictured above—were placed under quarantine at Cape Verde. “I was just lying in a bed with every machine hooked to me just trying not to die.” “It got to a point where the main doctor that I had at that time, he gave me just hours to live.”
Dockery said that his whole family came in to bid him farewell and called his hospital stay “blurry.”
“I knew it was bad.” He remembered, “I could see it in people’s eyes.”
After a friend who had studied the illness recommended that his medical team test for it, the doctors discovered he had Hantavirus.
Rats are naturally infected with the uncommon respiratory illness known as hantavirus, which can occasionally infect people.
The World Health Organization states that the virus is mainly acquired via touching contaminated surfaces or coming into contact with the urine, faeces, or saliva of infected rats.
Symptoms might start to show up as soon as one week after exposure, and human cases are most frequently documented in rural areas.
Dockery thinks he picked up logs in New Mexico, which is how he got the infection. He is shown with his three kids and wife.
Dockery claimed that after being exposed to the virus, he initially experienced flu-like symptoms. After that, he had a horrible headache that made him feel as though his brain was “melting.”
The Daily Mail was previously informed by virologist Dr. Jay Hooper that the virus “infects endothelial cells, which are the lining of your blood vessels.” Your blood vessels leak as a result of their malfunction.He described the procedure as “horrific.”
Dockery was informed that he had Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS) after contracting the Sin Nombre Virus (SNV).
SNV is not pass from person to person; instead, it is mainly conveyed by contact with infected deer mice.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning regarding the potential for uncommon human-to-human transmission in light of the current cruise ship outbreak.
At the time, Dockery told the Daily Mail that medical professionals thought he was just the 30th person in Texas to have HPS.
None of his family members, including his brother, who accompanied him to New Mexico, ever got the illness.
He clarified that ribavirin, an antiviral medication commonly used to treat hepatitis C virus (HCV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), was administered to him.
Hantavirus infections cannot be cured, although ribavirin has been shown to benefit patients in addition to oxygen therapy.
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Dockery told the Daily Mail that while he is unsure of how he survived, he thinks it was due to his age, health, and the available treatments. At the time, he was 27.
He stated, “Those folks that are on the boat, they’re definitely in a bind there, not being able to have access to those kind of things [treatment],” in reference to passengers on the damaged ship.
“It’s always better if they can receive medical assistance as soon as possible.”
Dockery was discharged from the hospital one day after being removed from the ventilator. He claimed that despite his continued weakness, medical personnel had to make room for Hurricane Katrina sufferers.
He remarked, “They said I could leave that hospital if I could breathe on my own.”
After being released, Dockery required a wheelchair, but he was back on his feet in a matter of weeks.
I was informed by one of the physicians that I would likely need dialysis for the remainder of my life and that I would not be able to have children. Most likely, I would no longer be employed. “None of those things occurred,” he stated.
In the end, I had another son. He is currently 17 years old. I’m not on dialysis, and I work every day. Since the day I left that hospital, I have not received dialysis.
Dockery thinks that when travelling in New Mexico, he came into contact with the virus from logs.
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Angie, his wife, has shared updates about her husband’s fight with the virus on Facebook over the years. She said that their family’s lives “came to a screeching halt” on the tenth anniversary of his illness.
“I witnessed a man who was strong in life and faith turn into a very sick man very quickly on this day,” she remarked.
“We are so thankful that our Hantavirus story is able to give hope to others,” she wrote in a different post.
Dockery told the Daily Mail that while he wasn’t worried about a widespread epidemic in the US, it brought back painful memories. “I instinctively prayed for everyone involved,” Dockery remarked.
He said, “It’s not something you want to get, but I can go to a college football game and look around in the stands, and there are 60,000 to 70,000 people there, and I’m the only one in that whole stadium that had it, so it’s so rare.”
Additionally, the WHO has determined that the recent outbreak’s current risk level is low.
The cruise ship outbreak, according to health experts, began when a Dutch couple visited an Argentinian dump for birding and caught the illness.
Fears of a possible breakout have been raised by the United States’ plan to send an aeroplane to extract the Americans trapped on the deadly hantavirus-ridden cruise. Pictured: Following the arrival of three medical evacuees from the cruise ship MV Hondius at Schiphol-East airport in Schiphol, Netherlands on Wednesday, a prospective Dutch patient departs the aircraft.
After an evacuation flight to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, the Americans will proceed to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s brand-new, cutting-edge biocontainment facility (shown).
Prior to his wife’s death on April 24, the 70-year-old husband was the first passenger to pass away from the illness on April 11.
On May 2, a third adult female who had symptoms similar to pneumonia passed away. The Hantavirus has also infected five additional people who departed the ship.
The ship is carrying more than 140 passengers. The ship is scheduled to arrive at the Spanish island of Tenerife tonight after leaving Argentina.
According to the Spanish government, evacuations are anticipated to start on Sunday or Monday.
After undergoing a hantavirus test, passengers will disembark nation by nation and board smaller boats in groups of five to travel to land for the plane flight.
The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are chartering the aircraft, the State Department told CBS News.
In order to determine the degree of monitoring required, the CDC announced on Friday that they will offer their own “exposure risk assessment” to the American travellers.
