3 Members Of Minnesota Family Struggle With Lyme Diesase

MONTICELLO  (AP) - With a growing number of Lyme disease cases in Minnesota, one family from Monticello has been hit particularly hard with three members diagnosed.

Reports say that Joan Schuster and her two children, 14-year-old Alyssa and 13-year-old Jack, were diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2015. The infection spreads through the bite of a blacklegged tick, usually caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.

An estimated 329,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually. Typical symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a rash at the site of a tick bite.
Schuster describes the disease as one of the cruelest illnesses out there.

Minnesota Department of Health officials say the number of cases in the state has jumped 142 percent in the past twenty years.