Tick Control and Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is caused by the bite of a tick. The tick may be so small that the person who has Lyme disease won't even remember being bitten. 

Lyme disease is caused about 85 percent of the time by a tick bite when the tick is in the nymph stage. Generally, a tick's nymph stage occurs in the spring and summer months.

After the tick bite occurs, there's an incubation period of 3-30 days. During that time, bacteria migrate through the skin and get into the blood stream. They can affect the lymph nodes, various organs including the liver (resulting in hepatitis), and even distant spots on the skin.

Ixodes scapularis, or black-legged ticks, transmit Lyme disease bacteria to humans. This tick is often called the deer tick because it prefers to feed on deer during the adult stage of it's life. It will, however, also bite other such as skunks, birds, dogs and humans.

The tick must usually be attached for 2-3 days to the host in order to pass on the Lyme disease infection.

Lyme disease is not contagious.

Lyme disease symptoms usually begin to present themselves from a few days to a few weeks after a lesion appears on the skin.

There are approximately 16,000 cases of Lyme disease reported in the United States annually. Lyme disease is therefore the most common disease caused by ticks in the U.S.

To protect yourself from being bitten by a tick that carries Lyme disease, do not walk in high grasses, and take care to check for ticks on pets that spend time outdoors.

Lyme disease is often known as Lime disease or Lim disease.

Related articles: Tick Disease, Tick Bite, Tick Control. Also see information on early stage symptoms of Lyme disease and late stage symptoms of Lyme disease.