CLAFLIN — This week Kristina Frost was able to sleep in her upstairs bedroom again.
Until this summer, Frost was an active mom, keeping up with four children in the three-story house in Claflin. But at the end of August, she began to lose feeling in her toes, and on Sept. 2, her husband had to carry her to the truck so he could drive her to the ER.
Frost was eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, an autoimmune disorder where the body’s immune system attacks itself. The exact cause is unknown, but it often follows a minor infection. She also tested positive for the West Nile Virus, one of eight or nine known cases this year in Barton County.
Now on the road to recovery, Frost has a message for those who want to avoid her fate next summer: “Wear DEET.”
She’s thinking about having it printed on a T-shirt.
West Nile Virus is carried by mosquitoes, and DEET is the recommended mosquito repellent by the Centers for Disease Control and by Shelly Schneider, director of the Barton County Health Department. Protective clothing is also recommended.
Frost’s stepmother, Terry VanCleave, suspects the higher water levels at Cheyenne Bottoms added to this year’s mosquito population. Barton County had more confirmed cases than any other Kansas county. Pawnee County had two.
There is no medical treatment for WNV and the illness causes flu-like symptoms, ranging from very mild to severe. Symptoms include fever, achy joints and headache. Some people have no symptoms at all, Schneider said.
A few people develop meningitis or inflammation of the brain from West Nile. Barton County also had one case of meningitis this year due to WNV, Frost said.
“Guillain-Barré starts at your feet and works its way up,” Frost said. She spent nine days at Hays Medical Center, undergoing a nerve conduction study and a spinal tap that confirmed her diagnosis.
The condition damages the nerves, which left her weak but with some of the worst pain she has ever experienced, second only to a kidney stone.
“You couldn’t even touch her,” said VanCleave, who is helping the family during her recovery. “She couldn’t lift the babies or anything.”
A fairly rare condition, doctors did not immediately suspect Guillain-Barré, Frost said. She visited a clinic on Aug. 28, and returned on Saturday, Aug. 30 as things got worse. She was given prescriptions for antibiotics and Prednisone, and waited through Labor Day hoping the drugs would begin to work.
After her hospital stay, Frost received home health service for a time and is now receiving physical therapy as an out-patient in Great Bend. Last week she was able to stop using a walker, but she still uses a brace on her right leg and walks with a cane.
“I went through Zoo Boo,” Frost said. The annual Halloween event at Great Bend’s Brit Spaugh Zoo drew more than 5,000 people. Some people who saw Frost with her brace and cane asked if she’d had hip or knee surgery. They were surprised to learn she’d been attacked by a virus.
“West Nile Virus can be more serious than people realize,” she said. “They think it’s is a three-day flu. Guillain-Barré syndrome can put you in the ICU.”

See more WNV prevention tips online at www.cdc.gov/westnile/prevention/