Woman pays hefty price in fight against Lyme disease
A high winter mortality rate in the province's deer population may be a blessing.
On the one hand, extremely cold weather and deep snow serve to cull white-tailed deer populations and control the size of the herd. That in turn reduces the number of deer roaming backyards, highways, parking lots, going through windshields and grazing on farm crops.
At the same time, a lower number of deer reduces the chances a deer tick - the primary carrier of Lyme disease - would find its way to a person or pet.
That's good news, but a little late for one Fredericton-area woman.
Leslie Thomas of Kingsclear has had Lyme disease for five years.
She didn't realize the full nature of her illness until years later. She has spent close to $20,000 of her own money for a battery of blood tests, medical examinations and medicines.
Lyme disease is an infection caused by a bite from a deer tick carrying the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, said Jim Goetz, the manager of veterinary laboratory services for the Department of Agriculture.
He said about 10 per cent of New Brunswick deer ticks examined at a lab in Winnipeg carry the bacteria.
"I don't remember getting bitten by a deer tick, but we have seen them on pets in the neighbourhood," Thomas said. "I didn't know I had been bitten.
"I didn't have a bite mark or red marks that may accompany a bite so I wasn't sure what affliction I had."
She travelled outside New Brunswick to be examined by medical professionals from Nova Scotia to British Columbia.
Thomas, a marathon runner and stay-at-home mother of two school aged children, was suddenly struck by crushing fatigue and had neither the ability nor desire to pursue her regular activities.
"It was so devastating I could not get out of bed," she said. "Normally I was very active with my family and an outdoors enthusiast. This disease stopped me in my tracks and I was reduced to lying on the couch and having everyone do things for me."
The 41-year-old said doctors at first thought she had the flu. Then as the disease progressed, she developed neurological symptoms ranging from muscle twitching, fatigue and pin-prick sensations in her legs, face and arms.
She was further examined by a neurologist and tested for MS and she was prescribed an anti-depressant drug.
"These symptoms disabled me to the point of being bed-ridden. The symptoms were sporadic and changed daily and the symptoms were terrifying."
As time wore on, her medical condition grew worse and there didn't appear to be any answers to her questions.
"On rare occasions, I would see a doctor that totally emphasized and understood my situation but unfortunately had no answers for me.''
She began doing online research. She found several sites for Lyme disease and discovered her symptoms were similar to those described by the Canlyme.com website.
That research took her to California and back to British Columbia then to Maine.
In 2006, she received a Lyme disease diagnosis at Igenex Inc., of Palo Alto, California.
A year ago, Thomas began a strict regime of antibiotic treatments from a doctor in Maine.
"It has now been just over a year since treatment began and I am about 80 per cent better. I am walking every day and for the most part, live my life normally."
There are more than 80,000 white-tailed deer in New Brunswick and the culprit that causes Lyme disease bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi is in the province too.
Provincial deer biologist Rod Cumberland said the deer tick is the primary host for Lyme disease.
He said the greater the number of deer, the greater the risk of contracting Lyme disease.
Cumberland said there are roughly four to six deer per square kilometre in and around Fredericton.
"Urban Saint John and outlying areas are polluted with deer at about 10 animals per square kilometre."
Cumberland said the risk of contracting Lyme disease is proportionate to deer density.
He said between 1987 and 1995, there were 10 cases of Lyme disease in the province.
According to the Mayo Clinic Foundation for Medical Education and Research, the ticks feed on blood preferably from mice, small birds and deer as well as household pets.
A person or animal must be bitten by an infected deer tick to get Lyme disease. The bacteria is transmitted as the deer tick feeds on the animal or human host for one to two days.
Lyme disease signs and symptoms vary because it can affect different parts of the body.
Educational material provided by the New Brunswick Department of Health suggests Lyme disease is an insidious masquerader.
It says symptoms of the disease are similar to those of the common flu and include being tired, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain and swollen lymph nodes.
Left untreated, Lyme disease can lead to painful arthritis, nervous system abnormalities, meningitis and irregular heart rhythm.
Lyme disease is rarely fatal and can be treated with antibiotics.
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