Infant’s Death Leads To Discovery Of Mystery Family Illness By Yale Researchers

For more than 40 years, Erik Drewniak has been plagued by high fevers and chills and never knew why. Whenever he got a 104 or 105-degree fever that would linger for a day or two, he and his family always figured that was just “how he got sick.” He still was able to excel at school, play sports and live a normal life, but the fevers would strike intermittently. It wasn’t until late 2012 into early 2013, following the death of his newborn son, that Drewniak learned what has been causing his fevers. He has an extremely rare gene mutation that Yale School of Medicine researchers uncovered through DNA sequencing. “I’m definitely grateful,” said Drewniak, 45 of Fairfield.