As if Rio Rancho High School senior Elisa Jaramillo didn't have enough to worry about with her nearly three-year battle against Wegener's granulomatosis, now she's at University Hospital battling the effects of West Nile Virus.

Mosquitoes spread West Nile Virus and, as of late September, the New Mexico Department of Health had confirmed 51 human cases this year. In nine new cases reported in late September, none of the victims was younger than 35 and five were 61 and older.

Common West Nile symptoms are fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches, with symptoms lasting from a few days to a few weeks. About four of five people infected with West Nile Virus will not show any symptoms at all.

Soccer-playing sisters Elisa, right, and Ileana Jaramillo. (photo by Gary Herron)

Not so with Elisa, RRHS student body president and whose body already was ravaged with the effects of Wegener's granulomatosis.

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Wegener's granulomatosis is an uncommon disease in which the blood vessels are inflamed (vasculitis). This inflammation damages important organs of the body by limiting blood flow to those organs and destroying normal tissue. Although the disease can involve any organ system, Wegener's granulomatosis mainly affects the respiratory tract (sinuses, nose, trachea [windpipe], and lungs) and kidneys. This disorder can affect people at any age and strikes men and women equally.

When Elisa complained of a headache last week, Irelia didn't think much of it. She has another daughter, Ireana, on the varsity Rams team, too, and Irelia's sister, Ana Colter, said, "Half of them were sick with a little bit of a headache. They thought it was a virus."

"(Elisa) gets dehydrated very easily. She had surgery as a toddler and had a lot of intestine removed. We took her to the hospital (Wednesday) and hydrated her. She started vomiting Wednesday and they did some tests, some spinal taps, to get fluid," Colter explained. "They thought she might have spinal meningitis."

On Saturday, however, Elisa tested positive for West Nile Virus.

"The doctors had never seen pediatric West Nile," Colter said. "She had a 105-degree temperature."

On Monday, Colter said, "She's doing a little bit better; she's still in hospital. She has good days and bad days. The fever finally broke (Monday)." But Elisa told family members she had limited vision in one eye; how long that lasts isn't known.

Contacted at the hospital Tuesday morning, Irelia Jaramillo said, "She's still under quite a bit of morphine and out of it."

As for her daughter's war with Wegener's granulomatosis, she said, "It's changed her life.

"The biggest thing is she's had to take a lot more medication; she's been on chemotherapy for 21/2 years now, fighting it. It has made her at times very weak."

It's definitely been a harrowing experience, she said, proud of her daughter's determination to battle that disease and manage to stay on the soccer field.

"It hit her kidneys; it started in her lungs - they healed pretty well," she said. "She's lost some of her kidney function - she's at about 70 percent."

But, she continued, "It hasn't stopped her - she's ranked fourth in her class," she said. "She has not let it control her life -- she has fought it hard and keeps going."

Irelia, a kindergarten teacher at Enchanted Hills Elementary, "keeps going," too.

"I'm here 24 hours - I come in with my child and I leave with my child," she said. "I think the nurses are way overworked."

So, too, must her daughter's body be overworked, compounded by more than just the annual fall wear and tear from soccer games and practices.

"She's in and out of wakefulness," she said. "Because of the medications they have her on, she comes out, and we ask her how she's doing and what she's doing, then she goes back. Ileana is very worried and upset, (but) she knows her sister's a fighter -- she's very positive for Elisa."

A lot of young people who contract West Nile Virus don't even know they have it, Irelia explained.

"Because she's compromised (with Wegener's), it hit her much harder than it would hit most kids," she said. "In the literature I've been reading, a lot of kids get it but it's a mild form; it's like the flu or a cold and they get over it and never know they have

"The good news is, she's getting better -- they took her to the hospital in time and they were able to treat her," Rams coach Uwe Balzis said. "We had practice (Monday); my players visited her (Sunday) and they're going again. She's in pain, from what the parents told me, and trying to recover."

Balzis hopes his diminutive midfielder, who wears No. 14, is back on the field soon.

"She's in her fourth year -- she's a team leader; she has been team captain the last two years and she's a very important part of the team," he said. "She is the most outstanding person on our teams in terms of soccer and academics; she has all (advanced placement) classes and is the student council president."

Irelia Jaramillo said she wanted to "make everybody aware that this (West Nile) illness is out there - we all need to take precautions. We did that first year, and we've all forgotten about it."

Now that it's hit close to home - as in the City of Vision - people need to be aware of the dangers mosquitoes may pose if they bite you.

About West Nile Virus:

West Nile Virus is a mosquito-borne disease that was first seen in North America in 1999. The most serious manifestation of West Nile Virus infection is fatal encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) in humans and horses, as well as mortality in certain domestic and wild birds. Cases of West Nile Virus in New Mexico have occurred every year since 2003, though decreasing numbers of cases have been reported, from 209 in 2003, 88 in 2004, 33 in 2005 and 8 human cases in 2006. West Nile Virus infections in humans occur seasonally, with the peak of cases in late summer and early fall.

The risk of acquiring West Nile Virus can be reduced by using insect repellent; cutting back on the time spent outdoors at dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most active; having screens on doors and windows; and making sure water-holding containers, which can be a good place for the insects to lay their eggs.