Lyme Disease Not Likely To Have Caused Church Shooting
The lawyer for the 27-year-old man accused of shooting an Illinois pastor during his sermon on Sunday, says his client suffers from a mental condition linked to Lyme disease, but many experts say that excuse doesn’t hold up.
Edwardsville attorney Ron Slemer told the Belleville News-Democrat that alleged shooter Terry Sedlacek suffers from mental and physical condition linked to a tick bite he sustained years ago.
"Lyme disease doesn’t cause people to shoot people," Dr. Eugene Shapiro, a Lyme disease specialist at Yale University, told the AP.
Lyme disease can lead to skin rash that is warm to the touch and fever. But most people can effectively fight the infection with antibiotics.
More serious problems with Lyme disease arise with symptoms of persisting infection and can include brain inflammation, concentration concerns, and sleep disturbances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to the National Institutes of Health, some occasional nervous system issues can arise after receiving a tick bite. These may include irritability and nerve damage in the limbs.
Sedlacek has been charged with first-degree murder and aggravated battery, but his lawyer says Lyme disease caused his actions to erupt.
In fact, some patient-advocacy groups use the term "Lyme rage" to explain aggressive psychiatric symptoms, according to the AP.
This condition was displayed in the chimpanzee attack reported last month, which led to injuries in a Connecticut woman, said Dr. Paul Auwaerter, an infectious disease specialist at Johns Hopkins medical school. Experts said the chimpanzee suffered from Lyme disease.
But Auwaerter told the AP that mental illness is simply more common among humans than Lyme disease.
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Image Caption: Nymphal and adult deer ticks can be carriers of Lyme disease. Nymphs are about the size of a poppy seed.
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