I have to beg to differ on the thought that a tick has to be attached for 24-48 hours, I have been treated twice for a bite site reaction that I know for certain the tick was not attached for 24 hours. Could be just me how my body reacts from a deer tick bite I get wound big enough to leave a scar from a deer tick bite.
The tick transmits Lyme disease by regurgitating blood and saliva back into the host, which happens after its been attached for a while. this is different than "bite site reaction".
Permethrin is your friend. Speaking from someone who had Lyme, I won't go into the woods without it on my clothes anymore.
Deer ticks seem to be able to be out and about even on snowy, sunny winter days around here. Having dealt with Lyme disease for the last dozen years, be careful out there!
A process that takes 24-48 hours.....though if you remove a tick improperly you can accelerate the process. B. burgdorferi infection of ticks While infected nymphal ticks feed, spirochetes in the midgut respond in several ways to the incoming blood and increased temperature. The population of spirochetes expands [156–158] and their protein synthesis alters [49, 99, 122, 159, 160]. Then, spirochetes migrate from the midgut to the salivary glands, allowing transmission into a new host. The B. burgdorferi outer surface protein OspA was shown to be abundant on the surface of bacteria resident in ticks (Fig. 1), but down-regulated during tick feeding and transmission to a mammal [49, 160]. Subsequent studies suggest that OspA is an adhesin, important for retaining spirochetes in the tick midgut until feeding [161–163]. OspB, another potential midgut adhesin [164], BptA, a lipoprotein of unknown function, and the product of the BB0690 gene, which is probably involved in resistance to oxidative stress [165], also appear to contribute to bacterial survival in ticks [166–168]. The RpoN-RpoS regulatory cascade appears to be required for migration of spirochetes to the salivary glands during transmission, but not for survival within the tick environment [153]. Since the tick and mammalian environments differ significantly from each other, there are likely to be other B. burgdorferi proteins that carry out important roles during bacterial growth and survival in ticks. Complementary studies have begun to elucidate tick proteins that contribute to B. burgdorferi infection and transmission. Ribeiro and colleagues identified transcripts that were differentially regulated between B. burgdorferi-infected and uninfected I. scapularis salivary glands [169]. A recent genetic study showed that the midgut protein TROSPA is a receptor for OspA binding, whose presence enhances colonization by B. burgdorferi [170]. The salivary gland protein Salp15 is immunosuppressive and may facilitate infection by the low numbers of spirochetes that are transmitted during tick feeding [171, 172]. Recently, a tick antioxidant was shown to facilitate tick acquisition of spirochetes from infected animals [173]. The Ixodes scapularis genome project, which is in progress, should yield additional gene candidates whose influences, positive or negative, on B. burgdorferi infection remain to be elucidated.
I got infected with Lyme 2 yeArs ago and still experience some of the symptoms today. I will never enter the woods without my clothes covered with permethrin now. Wish I had taken more precaution 2 years ago Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I have had the great fortune of getting Lymes twice now. I have always checked myself but still somehow have gotten infected. I have never removed a tick from my body with the exception of one I felt under my arm one afternoon after turkey hunting in the morning. Sawyers spray, use it and live by it now days. Since using it, I have yet to get a tick on me. Great stuff.
I have never had a tick bite. After the season ended I went out to take down my ground blind and it was covered in ticks. My wife and I ended pulling about 15 off between the two us. I have never used permethrin, but I will be now.
