Tracey Clavel found her husband of 43 years unconscious on the floor of their Anaheim home last month and never spoke to him again.
Daniel Clavel, 61, a father of five and grandfather to 13, died last week after spending 24 days in the intensive care unit, his wife told ABC 7. He had contracted West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness that has surged to record levels across Orange County this year.
The couple’s history made the loss especially cruel. Daniel had defied medical expectations once before, surviving a devastating motorcycle crash in 2013 that doctors said would leave him permanently unable to walk.
“They said he’d never walk again, and we didn’t think he’d make it but he did,” Tracey told ABC 7. “So that’s why this situation is even harder because he beat the odds of the motorcycle accident, but a mosquito took him, and I don’t understand it.”
Daniel began feeling unwell last month, and the family initially suspected the flu or another common illness. His symptoms progressed to include a rash, which accompanies fever, headache, body aches, joint pains, vomiting, and diarrhea in West Nile cases. Then came the morning Tracey discovered him collapsed.
“He just never regained consciousness. The ambulance came, took him, he was desaturated, so then they had to intubate him and I never saw him again. He never got to tell me he loved me. Never got to hug me again,” she said.
Doctors confirmed the West Nile diagnosis through testing. Daniel never woke from the coma that began on his living room floor.
Brian Brannon of the Orange County Mosquito and Vector Control District told ABC 7 that the county has documented its highest number of West Nile-positive mosquitoes ever recorded, with 757 infected samples detected so far this year. Anaheim alone accounts for 165 of those samples, the most in the county.
“We’re seeing a lot of activity in Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, even Los Alamitos. It’s really spreading mostly throughout the west side of Orange County, but it’s starting to go down a little south and a little bit east, too,” Brannon said.
The Orange County Health Care Agency is investigating Daniel’s death, though his case has not yet appeared on the agency’s public website. The site currently lists 21 confirmed West Nile cases in the area this year.
Health officials urge residents to wear insect repellent, eliminate standing water where mosquitoes breed, and cover exposed skin during peak biting hours at dusk and dawn. Most people infected with West Nile virus never develop symptoms, but those who do typically experience them within two to six days of a bite.
Tracey has embraced public attention around her husband’s death as a warning to others in Southern California, where infected mosquitoes continue circulating at unprecedented rates.
“He left us for people to be aware,” Tracey said.
