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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffLyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in North America and Europe. Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Deer ticks, which feed on the blood of animals and humans, can harbor the bacteria and spread it when feeding.
You're more likely to get Lyme disease if you live or spend time in grassy and heavily wooded areas where ticks carrying the disease thrive. It's important to take common-sense precautions in areas where Lyme disease is prevalent.
If you're treated with appropriate antibiotics in the early stages of the disease, you're likely to recover completely. In later stages, response to treatment may be slower, but the majority of people with Lyme disease recover completely with appropriate treatment.
- Lyme disease. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/. Accessed June 19, 2012.
- Bismacine/chromacine. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/SafetyInformation/SafetyAlertsforHumanMedicalProducts/ucm150503.htm. Accessed June 19, 2012.
- Wormser GP, et al. The clinical assessment, treatment and prevention of Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis and babesiosis: Clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Disease Society of America. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2006;43:1089.
- Lyme disease. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/lymeDisease/understanding/Pages/intro.aspx. Accessed June 19, 2012.
- Longo DL, et al. Harrison's Online.18th ed. New York, N.Y.: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2012. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aID=9102369. Accessed June 19, 2012.
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