The Sacramento Lymewalk & Picnic, an event to raise awareness and funds for Lyme disease research, will take place September 25, at McKinley Park. It’s one of six Lymewalks this fall sponsored by the California Lyme Disease Association (CALDA). The local walk is co-sponsored by the group Lyme Support Sacramento. “There’s a common misperception that Lyme disease is rare in California,” according to CALDA President Phyllis Mervine. “So, people may not take steps to protect themselves and may not seek appropriate medical care when needed.” Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread by tiny ticks. Early signs of infection may include a rash and flu-like symptoms, such as fever, muscle ache

Four years after she almost died from Lyme disease, Pamela O’Kane is one of three Sacramento women competing for Team USA at the World Triathlon Championships this week in Budapest, Hungary. It’s the second year in a row she’s qualified for Team USA. The 49-year-old lecturer from CSU Sacramento hopes there will be many more such adventures to come. It’s a far cry from how things looked in the spring of 2006. With her kids grown, a job she liked, and a love of athletic pursuits like running, swimming, and biking, she should have been on top of the world. Instead, she started experiencing weird symptoms her doctors couldn’t explain. She lost weight and muscle mass. She developed facial pa

(From the blog Touched by Lyme on the website of the California Lyme Disease Association) When the eight-year-old Folsom boy bent his head down, his mother noticed an odd bump under his hair. Looking more closely, she realized it was a tick. “We live near wetlands,” she explained to me. “We pull ticks off our dog all the time. No big deal.” She plucked out the tick with tweezers, threw it away and forgot about it. About a week later, the boy fell ill with fever, aches and pains. He had lymph nodes in his neck the size of golf balls. The doctor, diagnosing flu and ear infection, gave antibiotics. The boy got sicker. Mother took her son back to the doctor and this time told him about the