Tick-borne disease
Lyme disease
Borrelia burgdorferi
The most common tick-borne infection in North America — and the one a single, well-timed dose of antibiotic can often prevent.
The pathogen
What it is.
Lyme is caused by a corkscrew-shaped bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, carried by the blacklegged (deer) tick. The tick usually needs to stay attached for a day or more before it can pass the infection along — which is why the hours right after a bite matter so much.
Carried by
Blacklegged (deer) tick · Ixodes scapularis
Signs & symptoms
What to watch for.
Early signs usually appear 3 to 30 days after a bite:
- An expanding “bull’s-eye” rash at the bite site (erythema migrans)
- Fever, chills, and fatigue
- Headache, and muscle or joint aches
- Swollen lymph nodes
Untreated, Lyme can spread to the joints, nervous system, and heart. Caught early it is very treatable — and a single preventive dose within 72 hours of a high-risk bite can often stop it before it starts.
How it spreads
Transmission
Lyme is passed by the bite of an infected blacklegged (deer) tick. The tick usually has to stay attached for 36 to 48 hours before it can transmit the bacterium — which is why finding and removing it early, and acting within the first three days, matters so much. Poppy-seed-sized nymphs cause most human cases precisely because they are so easy to miss.
How it’s treated
Treatment
Caught within 72 hours of a high-risk bite, a single 200 mg dose of doxycycline can often prevent Lyme entirely — that is exactly what this platform is built for. Early Lyme with a classic bull’s-eye rash is treated with a short course of doxycycline. Later or complicated disease is managed by a specialist, and we will point you there if that is what you need.
When to seek care
Don’t wait on these.
Get in-person care right away for a drooping face, a severe headache with a stiff neck, heart palpitations or fainting, or a rapidly spreading rash with fever. These can signal Lyme reaching the nerves or the heart and need urgent evaluation — not a preventive dose.
Prevention
Lowering your risk.
The surest protection is avoiding bites in the first place: use an EPA-registered repellent, treat clothing and gear with permethrin, stay toward the center of trails, and do a full-body tick check after time outdoors — including the scalp, behind the knees, and the waistline. If you find an attached tick, remove it promptly with fine-tipped tweezers, pulling straight up without twisting, and note the date. The sooner it comes off, the lower the risk.
The physician
Dr. Adam Kawalek
Board-certified in Internal Medicine — American Board of Internal Medicine. Trained at Brown, Mount Sinai and Johns Hopkins. He reads every case personally.
Bitten recently? The clock matters more than the worry.
A licensed physician reviews every case