I’m The First In Lyme

(My brother is telling me a story from before I was born, when he and our parents were traveling to California.)

Brother: “So, by the time we got there, there was a ring-shaped rash on my leg and we went to a doctor. We figured it was Lyme disease, and now we know it was, but apparently that was unheard of in California at the time, and they assumed it was ringworm. But there was a new doctor at that office who had just transferred from the east coast who had seen Lyme before and recognized it, so they put me on treatment for both just to be safe. Of course, California was getting Lyme disease all over the place just a few years later.”

Me: *jokingly* “Was that your fault?”

Brother: *laughs and points to himself* “Yes! Patient Zero!”