Lyme Disease

Named after the town in Connecticut where it was first recognized, Lyme disease is an infection you can get if you’re bitten by a deer tick (also called a blacklegged tick) that carries the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It’s the most common tickborne disease in the United States. Symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, and a rash that sometimes looks like a bull’s eye. Ninety-five percent of all cases of Lyme disease have occurred in only nine states, mostly in the Northeast and upper Midwest.

Being bitten by a tick that carries the Lyme disease bacterium doesn’t always mean you’ll get the disease. To infect you, the tick must be attached to you for 36 to 48 hours or more. So if you remove the tick before then, in most cases you won’t get sick.

Antibiotics are the only known effective treatment for Lyme disease. Generally, a short course of antibiotics cures the disease, although people with complicated cases may need to take them for 3 to 4 weeks.

Beware of products offering “natural” or other alternative “cures” for Lyme disease, such as oxygen, energy, nutritional, or herbal therapy. These products haven’t been shown to be effective, and they may be dangerous.