Three die suddenly from rare Lyme disease complication

[Coyotl]

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/three-die-suddenly-rare-lyme-disease-complication-2D11733669
Maggie Fox NBC News
Dec. 12, 2013

One was found dead in a car that veered off the road. Two others collapsed and died suddenly without warning. All three may have been killed by an infection known for causing long-term misery, but not one usually considered a killer — Lyme disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports Thursday on the cases of three people who literally dropped dead from a heart infection known as Lyme carditis. The two men and a woman were young, aged 26 to 38, and had not been treated for Lyme disease.

And no one suspected an infection until an astute pathologist readying heart tissue for a possible transplant noticed something wrong.

The first case was one of those inexplicable deaths ........

[loudsue]

1. 3 people in my family have had it in the past 4 years. It's not any fun.

Doctors really are taught in med school that it's very rare, but I don't know ANYONE who lives in the rural area around me in NC who hasn't pulled at least one tick off every year. Ticks are everywhere in rural NC.

[Wilms]

2. There are A LOT of false negative test results for Lyme.

And there are many people diagnosed with MS who, in fact, have Lyme.

Read, study, be sure.

[hedgehog]

3. Lyme disease nearly killed our dog - they get hit hard and fast -

he was fine Saturday morning when we left on an overnight. He was so weak Sunday evening when we returned that he couldn't lift his head or bark. He responded quickly to antibiotics. The sound of a dog in the kitchen tryig to get into the garbage never sounded so good!