The parasite threatened local residents with weak immune systems, but for most people “the body fights this off in about a week,” says Dr. Thomas Schlenker, medical director of the Milwaukee Health Department. Officials were relieved that shrewd lab work isolated the uncommon parasite only two days after epidemiologists learned of the outbreak. Such painstaking identification can drag on for weeks. So can the incubation period. More cases of Milwaukee’s revenge will likely show up through mid-April, but by the weekend one reassuring sign of normalcy returned: Milwaukee County threatened to sue the city, seeking to recoup sick pay it expects to dole out to county workers.
