Texas rat virus survivor reveals horrifying symptoms of disease that left him on brink of
As Hantavirus panic grips the globe after a deadly cruise ship outbreak, a Texas father-of-three knows exactly what it feels like to stare death in the face as he survived the fatal virus.
Cam Dockery, 48, told the Daily Mail that he was transported back to when he got Hantavirus in 2005 when he learned of the outbreak on the MV Hondius that has so far killed three and has a further five confirmed cases.
No cases have yet been confirmed in the US, though nine Americans have potential exposure and are under medical watch in New Jersey, Georgia, California, Texas, Virginia and Arizona. The US is sending an evacuation flight to rescue the 17 Americans stuck onboard the doomed vessel as it is expected to dock in Tenerife tonight.
Chainsaw carver Dockery told the Daily Mail that he came into contact with the virus 21 years ago while on a work trip to New Mexico, where he was traveling with his brother to get logs for his business.
He said he felt totally normal after returning to his hometown of Whitewright from the trip, but days later was struck down suddenly by a severe illness with a crippling headache and began to feel unusually hot.
‘The headache and the fever really ramped up, and I told my wife, “I think my brain is melting,”‘ he told the Daily Mail.
The following day, his family took him to the emergency room, and he was transferred to the University Medical Center (UMC) in Lubbock.
He was at UMC for two weeks, needed a ventilator for the majority of his stay and medics said he was unlikely to make it out.
Cam Dockery, pictured with his family, told the Daily Mail that he was hospitalized and put on a ventilator after contracting Hantavirus in 2005
Over 140 passengers have been quarantining on cruise ship MV Hondius, pictured above in Cape Verde on May 4
‘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 described his hospital stay as ‘blurry’ and recalled that his entire family came in to say their goodbyes.
‘I knew it was bad. I could see it in people’s eyes,’ he recalled.
Doctors learned he had Hantavirus after a friend who had researched the disease as part of his studies suggested his medical team test for it.
Hantavirus is a rare respiratory disease that naturally infects rodents and is occasionally transmitted to humans.
The virus is primarily contracted through contact with the urine, feces, or saliva of infected rodents or touching contaminated surfaces, according to the World Health Organization.
Human cases are most commonly reported in rural settings, and symptoms can appear as early as one week after exposure.
Dockery believes he contracted the virus while picking up logs in New Mexico. He is pictured with his wife and three children
Dockery said he first started feeling flu-like symptomes after being exposed to the virus. He then experienced a terrible headache that felt like his brain was ‘melting’
Virologist Dr Jay Hooper previously told the Daily Mail that the virus ‘infects endothelial cells, which are the lining of your blood vessels. They cause dysfunction so your blood vessels leak.’ He called the process ‘horrific.’
Dockery was told he had contracted Sin Nombre Virus (SNV), which then led to Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS).
SNV is primarily transmitted through contact with infected deer mice and is not spread person-to-person.
With the recent cruise ship outbreak the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned about the possibility of rare human-to-human transmission.
Dockery told the Daily Mail that doctors believed he was only the 30th individual in Texas to have HPS at the time.
His brother, who went to New Mexico with him, never contracted the virus, nor did anyone in his family.
He explained that he was given ribavirin, an antiviral drug typically used to treat respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV).
There is no cure for a Hantavirus infection, but ribavirin has been known to help patients alongside oxygen therapy.
Dockery told the Daily Mail that he does not know how he survived, but believes that because of his age, health and the treatment available, he pulled through. He was 27 at the time.
Speaking of those on the stricken vessel he said: ‘Those folks that are on the boat, they’re definitely in a a bind there, not being able to have access to those kind of things [treatment].
‘The quicker that they can get some kind of medical help, that’s always better.’
A day after he was taken off the ventilator, Dockery was released from the hospital. He said that even though he was still weak, medical staff had to make room for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
‘They said if I could breathe on my own, I could be out of that hospital,’ he said.
Dockery needed a wheelchair after his release, but was back on his feet within weeks.
‘One of the doctors had told me that I’d probably be on dialysis the rest of my life, and that I wouldn’t have any more kids. I probably wouldn’t work anymore. None of those things happened,’ he said.
‘I ended up having another son. He’s 17 years old now. I work every day, and I’m not on dialysis. I haven’t had dialysis since the day I left that hospital.’
Dockery believes that he contracted the virus from logs when he was on a trip in New Mexico
Over the years his wife, Angie, has posted on Facebook about her husband’s battle with the virus. On the 10th anniversary of his diagnosis she wrote that their family’s lives ‘came to a screeching halt.’
‘It was this day that I watched a strong man in life and in faith become a very sick man very quickly!’ she said.
In another post, she said: ‘We are so thankful that our Hantavirus story is able to give hope to others!’
Dockery told the Daily Mail that he was not concerned about a mass outbreak in the US but it stirred bad memories.
‘It makes me flash back. I automatically said a prayer for whoever’s involved,’ Dockery said.
‘It’s not something that you want to get,’ he confessed, adding, ‘But I can go to a college football game, and I can look around in the stands, and there’s 60,000 – 70,000 people there, and I’m the only one in that whole stadium that had it. So it’s so rare.’
The WHO has also assessed the current risk level of the recent outbreak as low.
Health officials believe the cruise ship outbreak started when a Dutch couple contracted the virus on a birdwatching trip to an Argentinian landfill.
The United States is set to send an aircraft to evacuate the Americans stuck on the deadly cruise that has been riddled with the hantavirus, prompting fears of a potential outbreak. Pictured: A potential Dutch patient leaves the aircraft after three medical evacuees from the cruise ship MV Hondius arrived at Schiphol-East airport in Schiphol, Netherlands on Wednesday
An evacuation flight will take the Americans to Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha before going to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s new state-of-the-art biocontainment unit (pictured)
The 70-year-old husband was the first passenger to die from the virus on April 11, before his wife also succumbed on April 24.
A third adult female with pneumonia-like symptoms died on May 2. Five other individuals who left the ship have also been infected with Hantavirus.
There are over 140 passengers on the ship. The vessel departed from Argentina and is expected to reach the Spanish island of Tenerife tonight.
Evacuations are expected to begin between Sunday and Monday, in conjunction with the Spanish government.
Passengers will be tested for hantavirus and will disembark, country by country, before boarding smaller boats in groups of five to head to shore for the plane ride.
The State Department told CBS News the plane is being chartered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The CDC said Friday that they will provide their own ‘exposure risk assessment’ for the American passengers to help assess the level of monitoring needed.