Goddard boys recovering from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever

A Goddard mother says a tick bite has led to weeks of medical problems for her two sons.

It happened more than two weeks ago in her own backyard and led to her sons being diagnosed with Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a potentially-deadly disease.

It was a typical Sunday afternoon that led to two weeks of problems for Katie Schamle.

She says her sons had taken a bath and she was picking up towels when she noticed a tick outside of the bathtub on the floor.

"I grabbed it and flushed it down the toilet," Schamle says.

She checked her 9 and 5-year-old sons for tick bites and didn't find any. But after three days, she noticed something was wrong.

"My oldest had a full body rash by that point, so we took him to the doctor" Schamle says.

Doctors said that because both boys were sick, it was likely a virus and they'd have to wait it out. But when things didn't improve, they suspected it was something else.

'That's when (doctors) called us back in and said, 'okay, we'll take this further. They gave us medicine for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever," Schamle says.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a bacterial infection spread from ticks. It has the potential to turn deadly.

"It said 75 percent of the cases, if left unattended, can result in death," Schamle says. "That's kind of scary when it's your kids, both of them being sick."

Schamle's sons were able to get medicine in time.

"Definitely on the mend, they just get tired quicker," she says. "The rashes are still there, but nothing's infectious or anything."

Schamle wants to use her experience as a reminder to other parents.

"Kids are gonna be kids," she says. "They'll be outside and you can't protect them from everything. But checking your kids hair, checking their bodies for ticks, and then obviously, if it's a tick bite, make sure your doctors know."

James Mason with the Great Plains Nature Center says one of the best ways to prevent tick bites if you're spending time outdoors is to wear long pants and to tuck those pants into your socks.

He also recommends using bug repellent that contains Deet, checking children's scalps thoroughly and grabbing ticks close to the skin, removing them quickly.