21 Dec Lyme disease tied to 3 sudden cardiac deaths, says CDC
Three young adults died suddenly in the past year of severe heart inflammation induced by Lyme disease, a cardiac manifestation that has surprised some medical investigators.
One of those deaths occurred in New York, say federal scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who emphasized that sudden cardiac death is possible in young people infected by Lyme bacteria.
Before these three Lyme-related sudden deaths, only four cases had been reported in medical history. Lyme disease was first discovered and described in 1976.
Writing in a recent issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a team of the agency’s researchers noted their investigation began after the death of a young man whose car had careened off a road.