By David Heiller
Argus News Editor

Lyme disease is making a name for itself in the Caledonia area this summer.

Health officials can’t say with certainty that it’s a bad year, but several people have contracted the disease, which is carried by deer ticks.

The Argus talked to three of them.

• Laura Moen, 18, the daughter of Lowell and Joy Moen of Spring Grove contracted Lyme disease about a month ago. She discovered it after she got a fever, achy back, and sore muscles.

“Then I got little spots all over my chest and a really big spot on my back in a deep shade of red,” Moen said on July 15.

She went to the doctor and was tested positive for Lyme disease. Doctors gave her antibiotics, which cleared it up in about two days. Now she is feeling OK. She never found the tick bite.

Her doctor figured she had Lyme disease for three or four weeks, and told her that another week would have caused neurological damage.

She figures she picked up the tick in a nearby valley in a vicinity where other people have contracted it. “I think there’s at least three of us,” she said.

• Christa Booman, 12, of Spring Grove, got Lyme disease about five weeks ago. She was at a gymnastics camp in Northfield, and her coach called her parents, Jack and Ruth Booman, to say that Christa didn’t feel well.

The Boomans went to Rochester and brought her home. She had a temperature and headache the next day. The day after that, she spiked a high fever and complained about an itch on her back. She had a red circle about seven inches in diameter. “It was solid angry red with a blister in the middle,” Jack said. Her fever went to 103.5.

The Boomans took her to a medical doctor in La Crosse, Patrick Scott of Life Springs Partners for Health. Dr. Scott alternated different antibiotics and herbal medicines. Christa’s fever broke at 105 that night, before the anti-biotics even kicked in. “It was pretty scary stuff,” Jack said. “She sweated all night and the next morning she felt dramatically better.”

Christa was weak for a few days, but has gradually returned to normal, and has almost all her energy back, Jack said on July 24.

Booman said people should be aware of all the Lyme disease symptoms, like respiratory distress, fever, headaches, and joint pain, and not just watch for the circle with the bull’s eye in the middle.

Some people with chronic problems like those mentioned above might have Lyme disease without knowing it, Booman feels. Some doctors feel it is rampant, and some people have had it for years, he said.

There is some controversy about treatment for long-term Lyme Disease, Booman added. It’s hard to shake using just antibiotics, so traditional medicines can be helpful, he said.

Make sure you see a specialist that can test for Lyme disease accurately, he added, because not all Lyme blood tests will show the disease in its different stages.

• Hunter Mashak, six, didn’t show any of the typical signs of Lyme disease, but his mother, Becky, knew something wasn’t right at the end of June.

Hunter had red circles under his eyes and had headaches for a couple weeks. He was low on energy, he wanted to sleep a lot, and he wouldn’t let people touch him.

Becky took him to the doctor, and the tests came pack positive for Lyme disease on July 7. Doctors had caught it soon enough, and expect a full recovery. She didn’t see Lyme disease signs and symptoms like weak joints, or the bull’s eye that surrounds an infected tick bite.

“I suppose every person it does affect differently,” she said.

It was a scary situation for the family, Becky said. “If this is the early stage, I’d hate to see what the late stages are,” she said.

Ticks are in the woods

It’s too early to know if there’s an increase in Lyme disease cases, Dave Neitzel, an epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health.

Most Lyme disease occurs between mid-May and mid-July. Factoring in a couple weeks for symptoms to show up and be diagnosis and reported, Neitzel said he won’t know till the end of summer how bad Lyme disease is this year.

“In general the forested parts of Houston County, we’re certainly seeing deer tick populations and Lyme disease transmission,” he said.

People are not at risk in pasture land, he said. “But in the nice woods is where you find the ticks.”

There were only two confirmed cases in Houston County as of June 30, Nietzel said, with 37 cases statewide. “That’s too preliminary to really be meaningful.” Last year there were more than 473 cases, and in 2002 there were 867 cases.

Neitzel added that West Nile disease is of equal concern, but the risk of getting Lyme disease is greater. “The risk of getting West Nile is actually pretty low.”

About Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a potentially serious bacterial infection caused by the bite of an infected deer tick. The disease affects both humans and animals.

It is one of several tick-borne diseases in Minnesota. In order to get Lyme disease, a person must be bitten by a deer tick that is infected with the Lyme disease bacteria.

Not all deer ticks are infected with the bacteria, so not all deer ticks transmit disease. 

The tick must be attached for at least 24-48 hours to transmit the bacteria, and the chance of getting Lyme disease increases the longer the tick is attached.

There is no vaccine for Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease signs & symptoms

The signs and symptoms of Lyme disease vary among individuals.  A person may not have all of these symptoms. People often feel like they have the flu.

Three to 30 days after a bite from an infected deer tick, look for:

* A distinctive rash * Fever * Chills

* Headache * Muscle & joint pain * Fatigue

Days to weeks after onset of illness, one or more of these signs and symptoms may occur:

* Multiple rashes * Facial paralysis on one side of the face

* Fever * Stiff neck * Headache

* Irregular heart beat * Persistent weakness, fatigue

* Weakness, numbness or pain in arms or legs

Weeks to months after onset of illness:

* Arthritis in one or more joints, usually the knees

* Problems with the nervous system * Persistent weakness, fatigue