Lyme Disease Can Attack With Little Notice

NBC 10 Philadelphia
The legendary band Hall and Oates, containing Philadelphia's own Daryl Hall, has canceled its recent summer concert appearances because Hall has been diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Infectious disease doctors in the area say they are seeing a lot of Lyme disease cases this summer and that victims often don't see the disease's signature bull's-eye rash to tell them that they have been bitten by a deer tick.

Playing ball is about all Keith Harant can do this summer. He is recovering from Lyme disease -- a frightening and sudden illness.

"The one side of my face wouldn't work. ... And my eye started twitching," Keith said.

"You would see half a smile," said Stacy Harant, Keith's mother. "The first thing that came to mind was a mini-stroke or something," Stacy Harant said.

Keith's parents rushed him to a hospital emergency department, where doctors told them something was wrong with his heart.

"Once they mentioned the heart, we were really scared, but we had to be strong for him because he was really scared in the hospital," Stacy Harant said.

Keith was in heartblock -- meaning the electrical system of his heart wasn't working properly. Imagine seeing your child in the emergency room with heart problems and with neurological problems. He also had Bell's palsy -- all from the bite of a deer tick.

The same thing happened to Joe Monroe. Now he has Bell's palsy on both sides of his face. He can't even smile anymore.

"The Greater Philadelphia area is a hotbed of Lyme disease," said Dr. Peter Spitzer, of Bryn Mawr Hospital. "People can definitely get very sick, especially if the diagnosis is missed or delayed."

Neither Keith nor Joe realized they had Lyme disease. They never felt a tick bite and never saw the typical bull's-eye or round or oval rashes.

"What I tell my patients is -- roughly every five days, check your whole body for signs of a rash. If you see a rash early on, it's easily treated, and you usually do extremely well. Ideally, you look for the tick, but it's very hard to see," Spitzer said.

Only 60 to 80 percent of people get any rash -- they just get sick with major illnesses, like Keith.

He is still on IV antibiotics, even though he's been released from the hospital.

"I'm surprised a tick was on me and gave me this disease," Keith said.

"It has opened my eyes. I never realized that it could be so serious," Stacy Harant said.

Deer tick season lasts until the first frost.