Three Deaths Reported: Lyme Disease More Common Than Previously Thought

An undetected heart inflammation caused by Lyme disease was the reason behind the sudden death of three people in the Northeast, a study reveals.

The study commissioned by the federal government revealed that death from the deer tick-borne bacteria is actually more common than thought.

The research came about after a tissue bank doctor discovered an odd pattern of inflammation in the heart of a Massachusetts man who was found dead after a car accident last year. Tests performed on the deceased man's heart revealed that he had unrecognized Lyme disease, which probably led to cardiac arrest, causing his car to veer off the road.

The man and the other two victims, from New York and Connecticut, were all between the ages of 26 and 38, researchers reported Thursday. None was known to have Lyme disease before dying.

Only four deaths have been previously attributed in published medical reports to heart inflammation caused by Lyme disease, but the infection is a growing problem in the United States, particularly in the Northeast.

Officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they are troubled by the recent cases, but their investigation so far shows deaths from Lyme heart complications are still exceedingly rare. 

"This is not a new phenomenon," said Dr. Joseph D. Forrester, a CDC scientist and one of the authors of the paper published Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. "However, given the severity of what happened and the tragedy of three young people to die suddenly, it was very important to investigate these cases."

The CDC is urging people in New England and other areas with a high incidence of Lyme disease to see a doctor immediately if they experience heart palpitations, chest pain, light-headedness, fainting, or shortness of breath, in addition to more commonly recognized Lyme symptoms of fever, rash, and body aches.

There are an estimated 300,000 cases of Lyme each year in the United States, most in the Northeast. Only about 1 percent of Lyme patients are believed to have severe heart inflammation, known as carditis, which is treatable with appropriate antibiotics and, in rare cases, a pacemaker. But the fact that otherwise healthy young people with no significant symptoms could unexpectedly die from undiagnosed Lyme disease adds to health officials' growing worries about the disease discovered 40 years ago in Connecticut.

"The discovery . . . made all of us nervous,'' said Catherine M. Brown, Massachusetts public health veterinarian and one of the authors of the report. She said it underscores the need to prevent Lyme disease in the first place and to identify it early so that patients get appropriate antibiotic treatment.