Heart palpitations or an irregular heart beat (Lyme carditis).

Intermittent pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones.

Arthritis with severe joint pain and swelling, particularly the knees and other large joints.

Facial palsy (loss of muscle tone or droop on one or both sides of the face).

Additional EM rashes on other areas of the body.

Later Signs and Symptoms (days to months after tick bite)

Does not always appear as a “classic” erythema migrans rash.

Sometimes clears as it enlarges, resulting in a target or “bull’s-eye” appearance.

May feel warm to the touch but is rarely itchy or painful.

Expands gradually over several days reaching up to 12 inches or more (30 cm) across.

Begins at the site of a tick bite after a delay of 3 to 30 days (average is about 7 days).

Occurs in approximately 70 to 80 percent of infected persons.

Fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes may occur in the absence of rash.

Early Signs and Symptoms (3 to 30 Days After Tick Bite) These include fever, rash, facial paralysis, and arthritis. Within 24 hours, a specialist informed Berndt that his case posed a high risk of Lyme disease.Untreated Lyme disease can produce a wide range of symptoms, depending on the stage of infection. Within a day of discovering the tick, Berndt submitted photographs and information about his case to Tick Encounter. 'In most cases, the tick must be attached for 36 to 48 hours or more before the Lyme disease bacterium can be transmitted,' the CDC website says.Īlison Hinckley, a CDC epidemiologist specializing in Lyme disease, said several studies show that a tick 'needs to be attached for 48 to 72 hours to even be able to transmit the infection to a person.' The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gives a longer time frame for transmission. 'It looks like something on the order of 24 hours is required before transmission occurs.'

depends on the length of feeding,' Ostfeld says. 'The probability that it is transmitted to you. If you've been bitten by a blacklegged tick carrying Lyme you still might not get sick, says Rick Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in New York. But in the South and West, infection rates are usually less than 10 percent. A recent study found that in the Northeast and Upper Midwest, up to 50 percent of blacklegged ticks are infected. Where you live determines how many blacklegged ticks are carrying Lyme. That's because only a fraction of blacklegged ticks carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. But Mather cautions that you may be at risk for other, less common infections, like Rocky Mountain spotted fever.Įven if a blacklegged tick bit you, there's still a good chance you're OK. If you've been bitten by something other than a blacklegged tick, you can stop worrying about Lyme.

But he was unsure whether this particular tick posed a significant risk. After graduation, he stayed in Southern California to manage a photography business, but he missed being close to his family and moved back to Lancaster in June.īerndt had experience with ticks growing up in Pennsylvania, and he knew Lyme was a local threat. 'It's not something I wanted to mess around with.'īerndt spent his childhood in southeast Pennsylvania but moved to California to study business administration at San Diego State. 'Obviously, Lyme disease was my main concern with it,' Berndt says. Berndt, 26, of Lancaster, Pa., felt a tick attached to his scalp three days after disc golfing in a forest near his home. Nick Berndt found himself in that exact situation earlier this summer. Now you're probably wondering: What's the chance I have Lyme disease? So you've found a tick, and it's sucking your blood.Īfter an initial wave of revulsion, you carefully remove it with a pair of tweezers. A blacklegged tick like this one can be hard to spot.Įditor's note: This story was updated on July 25 to include additional information about the length of time a tick must be attached to transmit Lyme disease bacteria.

Lyme disease tick bite