OKC 5-Year-Old Makes Remarkable Recovery After Rare Mosquito-Borne Illness

An Oklahoma City 5-year-old is recovering after contracting a rare mosquito-borne illness. 

Amber England took her young daughter Josie on a road trip through Tennessee in August. Shortly after they returned to Oklahoma, Josie started having migraines, throwing up, and had a seizure. 

Amber rushed Josie to OU Children’s where she suffered a second seizure, just minutes after they walked through the door. 

“We were there maybe 10 minutes, and she had another really big seizure, it lasted a really long time, she wasn't breathing on her own, they had to bag her,” said England. “It took 25 minutes to get her stable, it was probably the longest 25 minutes of my life.” 

Doctors began running tests and ruled out every diagnosis they could think of and an MRI showed lesions on Josie’s brain, but doctors still didn’t have answers. 

“I was praying, just to ask God to let me keep her, I had her via IUI and so it was a miracle for her to be here to begin with, it was just scary,” said England. “Ultimately, they decided to send her home because they couldn't find anything, they said its likely viral.” 

After Josie started recovering, she was released from the ER, but it would be days before the England’s got answers. 

“It wasn't until a couple weeks later that we got the test results back that showed that she had the antibodies for what they call La Crosse Encephalitis,” said England. 

It’s a mosquito-borne illness, that Josie likely contracted during the road trip in Eastern Tennessee. 

“I wanted to be strong for her, she's just made a remarkable recovery,” said England. 

Josie is one of just 15 people to contract the illness in the nation this year, and according to the Center for Disease Control, there are usually between 30-60 cases each year. 

There’s no cure or treatment for this mosquito-borne illness, but the CDC recommends using bug spray and staying away from stagnant water to decrease the chance of contracting the illness. 

Now, Josie is at home recovering and is still weaning off anti-seizure medication. She has been able to go back to school and play soccer, all things her mom Amber is thankful for. 

“I think that's the scariest part as a mom you think you have so much control, but you really don't at the end of the day. She was the most amazing, brave little girl. She's just made a remarkable recovery,” said England