This is from the wife(also a nurse)of a friend of my husband.

This is to friends, family and acquaintances. For some of you this is information to protect yourselves and your family-others is an update.
Gerry has been in the hospital since last Monday. He has been in quarantine with bleeding precautions too. It began as fevers for 4 days that got higher and higher and the meds wouldn't control them. NO other symptoms-nothing-no congestion, cough, nausea, vomit, diarrhea, rash, wounds or pain anywhere. The ER started him on Doxycycline immediately-because they didn't and still don't know for sure what has caused this. Worst of all they found his white blood cells were going going almost gone, along with the platelets. His liver enzymes were skyrocketing. Now all his labs are gone wild-beyond belief.
When there were no more places to look the only clue was 2 weeks before he had ticks on him-we always have ticks on all of us-and none of the bites became infected or targeted and there was no rash with them.
The tests sent out take 7 to 12 days to get results-but they are about 90% sure that the culprit is a bacterial infection caused by a tick from deer-horses-dogs or you get them in the woods, yard or bushes. NOT Lyme disease which is viral. Gerry has been really sick but is responding well to the antibiotics, many. He has had some very serious complications from other areas and his labs are still out of line big time, but as of Saturday morning he has been over 24 hours without fever and is up and moving. Washed out, pale, but hopeful we have gone over the hump now we pray! Luckily I have been allowed to be with him the whole time-sleeping in the quarantine room. Am home very briefly for clean clothes and home business-have no computer access there.

For the information part. Around 2001-5 in Jefferson county of Florida there was an outbreak of Ehrlichia-that county is near Tallahassee-heavily wooded and hunted. There are precautions, but will let all of you look them up online. UF also has a site for it. The symptoms can be disguised and the outcomes can be one on one depending on circumstances and health. As a nurse this was eye opening-never heard of it till now. He is somewhat of a celebrity at the hospital-no one else has heard of it but the Infectious Disease Doctor who is treating him.
Hoping if all goes well will all be home next week. Keep us in your prayers-TAKE all the precautions you can. There are several listed online. We live in heavily wooded-over deer populated area and have a woods loving dog, but the ticks can be on your flowers or your grass-and north Florida seems to be a prime site. Good luck to all and thanks for all the prayers, keep them going out. cc

That is horrible. I had no idea ticks could cause all those problems.

Could this also be the source of a medically resistant (possibly staph) infection? If so, then that may be what had me in the hospital back in March. It seemed to have been a case of athlete's foot gone haywire, but I had also been doing burn piles in the woods and I know I had gotten into some serious thorns, and had a dirt daubber sting, don't recall any ticks, but that's not to say they weren't there too. SE Texas is in the area shaded on your map...

My husband also had the same disease a few years ago...He was working in Poukipsie (SP) NY, and apparently got a tick bite when he stepped outside for a smoke!!! It was a long time before they figured out what he had. Nobody here in South Carolina even thought to run a blood test for it. The correct antibiotic finally knocked it out of him. God bless you and your husband...

So sorry you and you DH are having to go through this. I will keep you both in my prayers. It is good that he is responding to the medications and able to be up and about. I am sure having you with him while he was in isolation was a great comfort to him.

Thank you for spreading the word. Lyme disease is also a tick borne infection that is quite common in the area where I live. 5 people in a 5 mile radius of our home have had it including our youngest daughter when she was 10.

It seems that tick borne illnesses are among the most challenging to diagnose. It does help when folks like you spread the word, raising the awareness.

thanks for letting us know, take care

thanks for the information

MRSA is the methycillan resistant staph infection. Nothing to do with the tick illnesses. It's also very scary though.

Thank You for posting this. This is a very serious illness. Our dog got this 3 years ago and we liked to have lost him. It was just awful!!! However we are thankful that neither my DH nor I contacted it. With the dog it was bad enough. I never want to have to go through that again!!!!!!!

I once caught rocky mountain spotted fever from a tick bite that I received in Pennsylvania. If you are in a wooded area, and get a rash on your ankles and wrists, don't assume it's poison ivy ;) Go to a doctor!!