Georgia mom warns others after son, 5, contracts rare disease from tick bite

Mason McNair, 5, broke out in a rash due to the tick bite.

 (Danielle McNair)

One Georgia mother is warning others after her son contracted a rare disease from a tick bite.

On May 10, 5-year-old Mason McNair was staying with his grandparents in LaGrange, Georgia, when they noticed a tick inside of Mason’s belly button. The tick was promptly removed, but it “got infected and very red around the entire bite,” his mother, Danielle McNair, wrote on Facebook.

McNair promptly took Mason to the doctor, who prescribed him an antibiotic. But 10 days later, Mason’s symptoms had worsened. The young boy was plagued with  fatigue, diarrhea, fever, headaches and pain in his abdomen, according to his mother. On the last day of his medication, Mason also broke out in a rash from “head to toe,” McNair wrote.

At first, McNair thought it was a heat rash. But she soon realized it was not, as the red spots on Mason’s body worsened, becoming bigger and more visible.

Again, the worried mother took her son to the doctor, who told her the rash was possibly a “delayed reaction” to the antibiotic. But McNair wasn’t convinced.

“I was NOT satisfied with that answer and neither was my sister, who told me they needed to do a tick panel on him. I called back after doing my own research on tick-borne diseases and showed them what I had found on Rocky Mountain spotted fever,” she wrote.

After investigating McNair’s suspicion, Mason’s doctors confirmed that young boy did, in fact, contract Rocky Mountain spotted fever. The condition is a bacterial infection that can lead to the amputation of limbs, hearing loss, paralysis and mental disabilities, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, there were roughly 3,500 cases of the infection in the United States. 

Soon after, Mason was treated with the correct antibiotic and is now “completely healthy,” his mother wrote.

“This has been a horribly scary experience for our family. I’m thankful that I did my own research and brought it to my doctors attention. So don’t EVER be afraid to be an advocate for your child or yourself when it comes to things like this!” McNair continued, adding that “doctors are humans and have to figure out the puzzle just like the rest of us do!”

Danielle McNair was not immediately available for additional comment when contacted by Fox News on Saturday.