Kelly Dodd, the Real Housewives of Orange County (RHOC) star, has revealed that she and her husband, Rick Leventhal, have contracted Lyme disease.
The 45-year-old revealed her diagnosis on Instagram Story, stating, “So, we tested positive for Lyme disease,” while filming Leventhal sitting across the table from her.
She said this is her first bout with Lyme disease, explaining, “I’ve never had contact with a tick in my life.”
However, Leventhal told Dodd that he had Lyme disease twice in the past. He took an antibiotic pill, adding that it cured his other bouts with Lyme disease.
In the United States, about 30,000 cases of Lyme disease are reported each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, recent stats suggest that as many as 50% of the American population contract the disease annually.
Lyme disease is caused by four main species of bacteria, according to Mayo Clinic. Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia mayonii cause the disease in the United States. It is transmitted by the bite of an infected black-legged tick, called a deer tick.
Dodd did not mention the source of their infection.
On Sunday, the couple returned from a trip to the Turks & Caicos, where they celebrated a friend’s birthday, according to PEOPLE.
She wrote on Instagram, “Bye bye Turks & Caicos, we had the best time!”
Dodd is not the first RHOC star to have contracted Lyme disease. In March 2020, Ramona Singer, the Real Housewives of New York City star, revealed she had been diagnosed with the disease.
Singer reportedly contracted Lyme disease from an unnoticed tick bite at her home in the Hamptons.
In 2018, Singer said, “It’s just a really scary disease and it’s not black-and-white.”
Yolanda Hadid, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, also had Lyme disease. She even wrote a 2017 book about her struggle with the disease called “Believe Me: My Battle with the Invisible Disability of Lyme Disease.”
In 2016, Hadid said at the Global Lyme Alliance Gala, “This disease has brought me and many others to our knees, often wishing to die of utter hopelessness and exhaustion. Like I always say, you don’t get it until you get it.”
