Wednesday 1 June 2022 10:19 PM 'Outdoorsy' Father-of-two, 60, left suffering memory problems with Lyme disease trends now
An 'outdoorsy' father-of-two died after memory problems triggered by Lyme disease that left him struggling to remember the alarm code were diagnosed as Alzheimer's.
Russell Bell, 65, from Raleigh, North Carolina, was tested for the tick-borne disease in 2016 after he also began having mood swings — but the swabs came back negative.
Doctors then said the computer scientist had early onset Alzheimer's after finding he could no longer complete math equations meant for a six-year-old.
It was nine months later with his condition declining 'swiftly' that wife Nicole decided to take him for more tests, after her brother — whose wife had just been diagnosed with the illness — suggested he had Lyme disease.
This time the tests came back positive, and Bell was immediately switched onto a course of antibiotics to alleviate his symptoms.
Russell Bell, 65, from Raleigh in North Carolina, was taken for tests for Lyme disease by his wife Nicole (right) after he started repeating himself and became irritable in 2016
But the initial swabs came back negative. The family (pictured Nicole and Russell on their wedding day) were left struggling for nine months as his symptoms 'swiftly' got worse
The antibiotics helped alleviate his symptoms, but after 18 months of treatment they kept coming back and his mental decline continued.
His wife moved him to a residential care facility in 2019, and he died there in January after the COVID pandemic left him 'hunched over' and 'frail' after being unable to see his family for six months.
About 30,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in the United States every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.
Most infections are easily treated with antibiotics if they are caught in the early stages. But if they are treated in later stages it may be difficult to cure the disease because inflammation in the immune system leads to symptoms persisting.
Lyme disease is typically caught
