I am a friend/neighbor of a beautiful 4 years girl named Alijana Varela.  This precious little girl has been dignosed with a very rare disease called LaCrosse Encephalitis.  For more information please go to, http://www.cdc.gov/lac/  It's transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected mosquito.  The incubation period for La Crosse virus (LACV) disease (the time from infected mosquito bite to onset of illness) ranges from 5 to 15 days. LACV disease is usually characterized by fever (usually lasting 2-3 days), headache, nausea, vomiting, fatigue (tiredness), and lethargy (reduced activity or alertness). Severe neuroinvasive disease (disease affecting the nervous system) occurs most frequently in children under the age of 16, and this is what Ali has.

Although seizures during the acute illness are common, fatal cases are rare (<1%) and most patients seem to recover completely. Neurologic sequelae (conditions resulting from the initial disease) of varying duration have been reported in some cases. These may include recurrent seizures, hemiparesis (partial paralysis of one side of the body), and cognitive and neurobehavioral abnormalities

Unfortunately, our poor Ali has had a severe symptoms to this disease including, feeding tube, current seizures, loss of movement on right side of her body,  and loss of the ability to speek.  Ali  will need several weeks in the hospital for OT/PT and speech therapy.  Her mom and dad have to take off from work to be with her for the next several weeks.  Please help this little girls and donate so her mommy & daddy can be there with her while she recovers.