A Manitoba family is sharing the story of Samuel, a healthy 37-year-old father who died from complications of Lyme disease, in the hopes of raising awareness of the rare severe cardiac outcomes that can result from the tick-borne illness.
It’s a timely message, as Canadians head outside and as the black-legged tick expands to new areas of the country.Canadian Medical Association Journal.
One of Samuel’s four sisters, Leah, worried about a rash she saw on him. She says he was quiet and withdrawn.Leah mentioned Lyme disease that day, but Samuel dismissed it, attributing his symptoms to the flu and saying he hadn’t removed a tick. He believed the rash on his back and chest were from getting scratched while picking raspberries.
Doctors initiated antibiotic treatment to fight the bacteria that causes Lyme disease but about 12 hours after admission, Samuel became sweaty and his blood pressure dropped dangerously low, says Wuerz, a co-author on the CMAJ article. Black-legged ticks have spread across Manitoba over the last few years, says Dr. Richard Rusk, a public health physician with the provincial government, a co-author on the article. He warns that climate change will bring with it the emergence of new diseases in the coming years.
Samuel, who was described by his sisters as wild and adventurous and always healthy, was also a loving, kind-hearted, understanding and sweet husband, says his wife Grema. Their son was just four months old when Samuel died.
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