STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island native Nicole O’Donnell, 51, came down with flu-like symptoms one weekend in 2015. Instead of improving, her symptoms worsened, including numbness, tingling and severe fatigue.
When her body failed to recover, O’Donnell sought medical care. After blood work and a Western blot test, her doctor told her she had likely contracted Lyme disease, a complex bacterial infection, earlier without knowing it.
“He [the doctor] was able to tell me that the reason why my body was not recovering was because at some point I had Lyme and I didn’t know it, so it was untreated,” O’Donnell, a Pleasant Plains resident said. “It could lay dormant in your body, and then that priming event set it off.”…