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Bonnie Smith was hiking with her family in an area between Nephi and Delta on April 24th.
Everything was fine until he woke up the next morning.
"Really painful, painful joints, muscles and really, really weak," Smith said. "I do not have the energy to do anything."
Smith had checked for ticks the previous night, but waking up she saw a blue spot on her chest and a small tick lodged in her skin.
"It was so small," Smith said. "It was just the size of a small flax seed, so we had a hard time grabbing it and pulling it out."
Once the tick was eliminated, Smith consulted his doctor who prescribed antibiotics for 90 days – the life cycle of Lyme disease.
Smith is one of more than 1,000 people who are part of a Lyme disease support group in Utah.
Jenny Jones is vice president of the Utah Lyme Disease Alliance. According to the CDC, 10 cases of Lyme disease have been reported in Utah in 2017.
Jones said that she had already been paralyzed from the neck because of this small insect.
"It has a life cycle where it can hide from a drug and reproduce itself as a cyst," Jones said. "When this medicine is gone, it comes back with a vengeance."
If you can prevent him from getting it, Jones said it was better than trying to be treated for it later.
"Always bring your hair back, using an insect repellent that contains deet or cedarwood oil," Jones said.
For Smith and his family, this means checking ticks even more than they thought.
"I would just say to be very vigilant," Smith said. "Take off your clothes, check on each other, check your clothes, maybe do not even take things home that you've gone out for a while."
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