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Jackson Oblisk, 2, was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever after being bitten by a tick in Kentucky. (Kayla Oblisk)
Lindsey Bever
Generalist journalist covering national and last-minute news
For several days, Jackson Oblisk suffered from a high fever and the toddler's tiny body was covered with tiny red spots.
His pediatrician had suspected that it was a viral rash and had sent him home to retrieve it, said his mother. But the toddler is not better; it was getting worse and worse, she said.
When her mother, Kayla Oblisk, offered her her favorite dish, a peanut butter sandwich, he just took it in her hand. When she shot her favorite movie, "The Greatest Showman," he slept through him. Jackson, who once liked chatting and singing and calling the family dog, had stopped communicating, other than to hold his head between tiny hands and cry, his mother said.
Oblisk, 24, and her husband, Brandon, feared their son's symptoms were linked to a tick that bit him last month in a park near their home in Hillview, Kentucky.
On Remembrance Day, more than a week after the bite, the couple took him to a nearby emergency room. He was quickly diagnosed with a very rare tick-borne disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, said his mother.
[Diseases spread by ticks, mosquitoes and fleas more than tripled in the U.S. since 2004]
Rocky Mountain spotted fever is a serious, life-threatening bacterial infection transmitted by several types of ticks in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, the disease, which can cause high fever, severe headache, nausea and vomiting, and a rash, can be fatal if left untreated within the first five days of symptoms.
Jackson was admitted to the hospital eight days after he started showing symptoms, his mother said.
Bobbi Pritt, a physician and co-director of laboratory services for vector-borne diseases at the Mayo Clinic, said that although Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is considered low-risk, it can quickly be fatal. In fact, she said, when patients have symptoms consistent with the disease, doctors usually begin treatment without waiting for lab results.
According to Pritt, the treatment, an antibiotic called doxycycline, is effective when the disease is diagnosed at an early stage.
Kayla Oblisk and her son, Jackson. (Courtesy of Kayla Oblisk)
On a Thursday, last month, Jackson's father and grandfather placed the boy in a Harley-Davidson decorated wagon before heading to Mount Washington City Park to play.
Later on May 16, when they returned home, they spotted a small tick on Jackson's neck, his mother said.
They removed it and threw it, said Oblisk. But after three days, the toddler had developed a fever and had quickly had a pale pink rash all over his body.
Oblisk said that she thought it was an infection in the ear and so led Jackson to the pediatrician. The doctor told her that it was probably a rash due to a viral infection and that she should take her course, she said.
While Jackson's symptoms persisted, he was treated with steroids, but his condition continued to deteriorate, his mother said. At worst, she said, her fever reached 105.1 degrees.
On May 27, Jackson was admitted to Norton Children's Hospital in Louisville and given doxycycline. But at that time, the doctors did not know if the disease had been contracted in time, said Oblisk.
Jackson did not want to eat, drink or talk; he alternated between sleeping and screaming, said his mother. The toddler's face was so swollen that he could not open his eyes, she said.
"As a parent, it's the worst thing that has happened to me," she said.
Jackson started waking up last Thursday and the next morning – his second wedding anniversary – he again looked at his parents with his eyes, said Oblisk. Jackson still does not speak and does not work, but during a telephone interview Monday, the toddler was awake and was watching his favorite movie in his hospital room, his father told the Washington Post.
Pritt, of the Mayo Clinic, said the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever was spread mainly by the American tick, as well as by the brown tick, both present in Kentucky.
But, says Pritt, the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is just one of many tick-borne diseases. She added that it is important that people take precautions when they go outside, for example by avoiding tall grasses or wooded areas, wearing protective clothing and an anti-tick product, and by checking for the presence of ticks in humans and animals after an exit.
She added that it is imperative to remove a tick as quickly as possible because the longer it is attached, the higher the risk of transmission of the disease.
Jackson's mother said that the toddler was going to be well and that he would soon be released from the hospital and taken to a rehabilitation center. But his doctors do not know if he will suffer long-term effects, said his mother. A GoFundMe was set up to help cover the family's medical expenses.
The Oblisks said that they hoped their story would serve as a warning to other parents, not only to check for the absence of ticks in children, but also to trust their instincts.
"As a parent, you know your child more than anyone. You know when something is wrong, "said Oblisk. "I would have liked to have followed my instincts sooner. He would not have lived so much. "
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