How a tick-borne disease nearly killed a Canadian man

Blacklegged ticks are known to carry the bacteria linked to Lyme disease and are now also transmitting naplasmosis. The tiny arachnids have been expanding their geographic footprint, driven in part by milder winters.

HAMILTON, Ont. – From the comfort of their backyard in Halifax, Bonnie and Perry Horne know all too well the danger of ticks. “They thought that he wasn’t going to make it out of the ICU,” said Bonnie. Her husband, Perry has always taken their dogs for long walks along a nature trail in Halifax, though back in July 2022, Perry’s health began deteriorating quickly.

“He had a high, high fever. So much so that the bed was shaking,” recalled Bonnie. The couple were sent home after two visits to Dartmouth General Hospital, doctors initially though he might have contracted COVID-19.

“After my second hospital visit, I woke up the next morning and my fingers were purple,” said Perry who didn’t know his “heart and kidneys were failing.” “By noon the next day the doctor was rushing him to the ICU because he wasn’t getting any better and he had no idea what was going on,” recalled Bonnie. It was there, in the ICU at Dartmouth General Hospital, that Horne was diagnosed with a disease called anaplasmosis.

He spent roughly a week in the ICU and when he was released Bonnie says the nurses admitted that they didn’t think he was going to make it. Blacklegged ticks are known to carry the bacteria linked to Lyme disease and are now also transmitting naplasmosis. The tiny arachnids have been expanding their geographic footprint, driven in part by milder winters.

A recent Canadian Medical