He had a virus, the doctor said. But without a rash, the virus probably was not West Nile.

The next day, the rash appeared — small, red dots everywhere from his neck down, except for the palms of his hands. No itch, no bumps — just lots of dots.

Matt Dulcich, an associate environmental planner in the Office of Resource Management and Planning, had already been sick for five days. "I felt completely wiped out," he said. "I was achy and I had a slight fever. My eyes were sensitive to touch; they were painful."

He is well now, back at work full time, a survivor of the mild form of the mosquito-borne West Nile. Eighty percent of people infected with the virus do not show any symptoms. Of people with symptoms, about 1 percent will come down with severe cases, possibly leading to death.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the state had tallied 19 cases of human infection in Yolo County, out of 117 statewide, and two fatalities, both described only as elderly women, one in Butte County, the other in Contra Costa County.

Dulcich said he is eager to tell his story to let people know the danger of the virus, and how it can strike anyone — not just the elderly, but someone of his age, 37, and someone like him who is normally "really healthy."

He is outdoors a lot — bicycling (he is a racer), gardening and playing with his two children. Around the Fourth of July, he said he decided that he "better start being careful" about guarding against West Nile virus.

He wore long pants and long-sleeved shirts, and he put on bug repellent when outdoors at dawn and dusk, when mosquitoes are most active. He made sure to eliminate standing water around his house, places where mosquitoes might breed. He said he did not observe many mosquitoes in his neighborhood.

He did not feel invincible, but he liked his chances. "I took all the precautions I could," he said.

If he contracted West Nile, Dulcich thought to himself, the cause was likely to be that he had sustained a bunch of mosquito bites. In fact, he said, he cannot remember even one bite leading up to his illness. "It must have been a small bite that didn't raise up very much," he said.

The virus struck him on July 30. He had been gardening in the yard of his west Davis home. He grew tired and went inside. He needed to lie down, and he did so at the first opportunity — on the carpet — thinking a 20-minute nap would do him some good.

But the pain in his eyes was odd, he said. That was not a symptom of any cold or other illness he had ever had.

He went to his doctor on Aug. 3 and came down with the rash on the 4th. The doctor ordered a blood test, and it confirmed the West Nile diagnosis. The doctor's office called on Aug. 12 to tell Dulcich that he had the virus.

He was not home to take the call. Dulcich's wife answered, and, when asked how her husband was doing, she replied: "He's feeling great and out on a bike ride."

After almost a week of being sick, he had regained plenty of energy to hit the road, and his rash had disappeared.

A few days before that bike ride, the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District misted Davis and Woodland with insecticide for the first time from the air.

"Even before I was sick I thought spraying was a good idea," he said. Many others in Davis feared the insecticide's effects on people, but mosquito control district officials and other authorities contended that the risk of the virus was greater than the risk of the spray.

Dulcich lived through that risk. And now he believes that the district should be more aggressive, perhaps spraying earlier in the mosquito season, taking advantage of when the delta breeze lets up.

Wind in excess of 10 mph grounded the Davis-Woodland spraying operation Aug. 3 and 4, and the spraying did not take place until Aug. 8 and 9.

Ponders the future

"Our family is now starting to reconsider West Nile virus' implications. What are summers going to be like for my kids?" Dulcich asked.

At ages 2½ and 4½, they are in the house and in bed before dusk. But, as his sons grow older and play later into the evening, when mosquitoes take flight, his children will be vulnerable to West Nile — if it is not brought under control.

Today, Dulcich is back to his biking and gardening — without the long pants and long sleeves. Sometimes he feels guilty about that, because he is the type of person who normally heeds health advice. But, having been infected, he is immune to West Nile virus now.

For others, he recommends taking all the precautions. "But you should be aware that you can still get sick."

A report on mosquito control in the wake of the Aug. 8 and 9 spraying is available on the UC Davis News Service Web site: www.news.ucdavis.edu.