Lisa Whelchel Battling West Nile Virus

Blair has a bug!

Former “The Facts of Life” star Lisa Whelchel – who played Blair Warner on the ‘80s sitcom – and is currently competing on “Survivor: Philippines,” has revealed that she has West Nile virus.

“Dr. just called with blood test results…I have West Nile. Ugh. I’m fine, just tired. Takes a year to recover,” she Tweeted this week.

The former teen star did not say if she contracted the virus – which has affected almost 4,000 people in the U.S. this year – while filming the CBS reality competition.

The 49-year-old, who told AccessHollywood.com in September that she’d love to return to working in TV, thanked her fans and followers for their love and support.

“I’ve been very touched by all the sweet tweets. Other than tired, I’m feeling fine & expecting a full recovery. So grateful for you. Thanks!” she added in another Tweet.

Lisa, who has remained in the reality competition through a series of strategic moves and alliances after almost being voted out early on, told Access that surviving the elements of the show were much more difficult than she expected.

“The external elements, the weather and the starvation, the bugs, that really wasn’t the hard part for me. It was the internal struggle,” she told Access before the show’s debut in September. “The challenge of playing the game, the way you’re supposed to play it to win. You’re going to have to do some lying and backstabbing and hurting people and that was a bigger struggle for me. That turned out to be harder than I anticipated.”

And being a child/teen star has not helped Lisa when it comes to navigating her way through the game.

“You get so raw, without the food, without people who are your support system, without sleep, you’re miserable because of the bugs. Anything is stripped away from you. So even something like the ability to be an actress — that was gone. I couldn’t act like I was happy. It was miserable,” she added.

For more on how Lisa’s former “Facts of Life” co-stars have been supportive during her time on “Survivor,” CLICK HERE!

“Survivor: Philippines” airs Wednesday on CBS at 8PM.

— Jesse Spero