When Lyme Kills
The extremely rare complication you should know about
This story is part of “Tickpocalypse,” a multi-part special report.
Joseph Elone just felt tired at first, like he wasn’t sleeping well. A 17-year-old high-school student from upstate Poughkeepsie, New York, Joseph was a quiet but popular science whiz and electric-guitar lover who had just finished a summer environmental fellowship at Brown University. He’d spent two weeks studying on campus and hiking in the Rhode Island woods and was still riding high from the experience. It was late July, and life had a carefree feeling to it. “He was really happy that he had this chance to really open himself up,” says Joseph’s brother, Emmanuel. “He knew that as soon as senior year started he was going to apply early to Brown.”
Soon, however, Joseph developed cold symptoms — a cough, a sore throat, head and body aches, digestive problems, and a low-grade fever.
Poughkeepsie is located in New York’s Hudson Valley region, an area known for high rates of Lyme disease. Joseph had seen no signs of a tick, a tick bite, or the bull’s-eye rash that is often the telltale marker of Lyme, but he and his parents decided he should see his pediatrician in any case.
The doctor saw little reason for concern. Joseph likely had the flu, he said. He…
