Lyme disease - primary

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Deer ticks	Lyme disease	Lyme disease, erythema chronicum migrans	Lyme disease - Borrelia burgdorferi organism
Lyme disease organism, Borrelia burgdorferi	Tick imbedded in the skin	Ticks

Early localized Lyme infection; Lyme borreliosis; Stage 1 Lyme disease

Deer ticks can be so small that they are almost impossible to see. Therefore, many people with Lyme disease never even saw a tick. These people are more likely to develop symptoms because the tick remained on their body longer.

The symptoms of Lyme disease include:

• a flat or slightly raised red lesion at the site of the tick bite
• expansion of the red lesion (rash) to several inches over several days. The rash usually will clear in the center and resemble a bull's eye
• fever
• headache
• lethargy
• muscle pains and aches
• joint aches
• swollen glands, either near the rash or all over the body

• An ELISA or Western blot may show antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi. This test is usually not positive in the first few weeks after the tick bite, so it is often not accurate early in the disease.
• A skin biopsy can sometimes identify the organism.

Review Date: 06/15/2005
Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, Sanf Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.