How Quickly Can a Tick Infect You?

Clinical evidence for rapid transmission of Lyme disease following a tickbite

Eleanor D. Hynote, Phyllis C. Mervine, Raphael B. Stricker
Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease, online
before print, November 20, 2011.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2011.10.003

Abstract
Lyme disease transmission to humans by Ixodes ticks is
thought to require at least 36–48 h of tick attachment. We
describe 3 cases in which transmission of Borrelia
burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, appears
to have occurred in less than 24 h based on the degree of
tick engorgement, clinical signs of acute infection, and
immunologic evidence of acute Lyme disease.

Health care providers and individuals exposed to ticks
should be aware that transmission of Lyme disease may occur
more rapidly than animal models suggest. A diagnosis of Lyme
disease should not be ruled out based on a short tick
attachment time in a subject with clinical evidence of B.
burgdorferi infection.


The rest of the study can be found here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2011.10.00

Petition: Calling for a Congressional investigation of the CDC, IDSA and ALDF

Letter to the Editor, The Lancet Infectious Diseases Published May 2012