The family of a 13-year-old boy from Long Beach is asking for help as he remains hospitalized with a rare disease linked to the West Nile virus, doctors say.
Joseph Vasquez has been bedridden at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for three weeks, his family says. Doctors there diagnosed him with transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition that causes severe inflammation of the spinal cord.
Doctors say his ailments are complications from West Nile virus, which he contracted through a mosquito bite. The Los Angeles area is experiencing a spike in cases of West Nile virus, with roughly 135 cases recorded in L.A. County this season…