Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the leading members of the White House coronavirus task force, had surgery to remove a growth.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases underwent the procedure on Thursday morning to remove a polyp on his vocal cord, according to CNN. The network’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, said that Fauci had general anesthesia and that doctors had encouraged him to stop talking to let his vocal cords rest. He also said that Fauci had told him he was “doing OK” following the procedure.
Fauci mentioned the possibility of having a polyp on his vocal cords while speaking at the Economic Club of Washington in April.
“In December, unfortunately for me, I got influenza A, H1N1. I developed a tracheitis that gradually was getting better. And then came coronavirus, which had me briefing, at least in my mind, almost every congressman, every senator, every governor, and doing five, six, seven interviews a day that, when you get your voice damaged a little, your trachea,” he explained.
“I probably have a polyp there — the only way you’re going to make it get better is to keep your mouth shut,” he added.
