Ixodes scapularis, known as the deer tick, is the arthropod vector for a bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi.  B. burgdorferi is a spiral-shaped bacteria that infests deer and the white-footed deer mouse.  When this bacteria is transferred from the host animal to a human host the resulting disease is called Lyme Disease.

Important Facts about Lyme Disease

1. It takes more than 24 hours for a tick to transmit Lyme Disease.  Finding and removing ticks promptly is very important.

2. Prevention is a key to not getting Lyme disease.  Use DEET on your skin and permethrin on your clothes.

3. 70-90 % of people with Lyme disease will have a characteristic rash.  The rash is less often a target and more often an enlarging red patch around the tick bite.

4. Lyme Disease is endemic in the North East, upper Mid-west and Pacific coast.  North of Maryland 50% of tick are infected with the Lyme Disease causing bacteria.  South of Maryland only 4% of adults are infected.

5. Lyme disease prophylaxis using 200mg of Doxycycline within 72 hours of removing a tick is only indicated where Lyme disease is endemic. The IDSA recommends this treatment if (a.)>20% of local ticks are infected with B. burgdorferi, (b.) the biting tick is identified as a deer tick on the east coast, (c.) it has been less than 72 hours since the bite and (d.) doxycycline is not contra-indicated by allergy, pregnancy or age less than 8 years. (This means in North Carolina, this therapy should not be used. No where do we have >20% of ticks infected.)

6. The test for Lyme Disease is for antibodies or immune response to the bacteria and not for live bacteria.  This makes it inaccurate early (less that 3-6 weeks) in the course of the disease.

7. Don’t panic.  People come to our clinic with a small (less than 3 cm.) dark pink colored rash around a tick bite and want to be treated.  Even in endemic areas (where more than 5,000 cases per year are reported), most tick bites do not cause Lyme Disease.  If you are bitten in North Carolina, it is much more likely you will contract Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever or HGA than Lyme Disease.  The incidence of Lyme Disease in North Carolina is .6 cases per 100,000 people.

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