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Lyme disease - primary - Symptom

Alternative Names

Early localized Lyme infection; Lyme borreliosis; Stage 1 Lyme disease; Lyme disease - primary

Symptoms:

The first stage of Lyme disease is considered the "primary" or early stage.

Not everyone infected with the Lyme disease bacteria gets ill. Among those who do become ill, the first symptoms resemble the flu and include:

There may be a "bulls-eye" rash -- a flat or slightly raised red spot at the site of the tick bite often with a clear area in the center. This spot can be larger than 1 - 3 inches wide.

Signs and tests:

A blood test can be done to check for antibodies to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. The most common one used is the ELISA for Lyme disease test. A western blot test is done to confirm ELISA results.

The tests are usually not positive in the first few weeks after the tick bite, so they are often not accurate early in the disease.

A skin biopsy can sometimes identify the Lyme disease bacteria.

Lyme disease, erythema chronicum migrans

Lyme disease organism, Borrelia burgdorferi

Deer ticks

Ticks

Lyme disease - Borrelia burgdorferi organism

Lyme disease

Tick imbedded in the skin

Reviewed last on: 5/20/2008
Jantin M. Vyas, PhD, MD, Instructor in Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Assistant in Medicine, Division of Infectious Disease, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Feder HM Jr., Johnson BJ, O'Connell S, Shapiro ED, Steere AC, Wormser GP. Ad Hoc International Lyme Disease Group. A critical appraisal of "chronic Lyme disease." N Engl J Med. 2007; 357:1422-1430.

Halperin JJ, Shapiro ED, Logigan E, Belman AL, Dotevall L, Wormser GP, et al. Practice parameter: treatment of nervous system Lyme disease (an evidence-based review): report of the Quality Standards Subcommittee of the American Academy of Neurology. Neurology. 2007;69:91-102.

Wormser GP, Dattwyler RJ, Shapiro ED, Halperin JJ, Steere AC, Klempner MS, et al. The clinical assessment, treatment, and prevention of Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and babesiosis: clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis. 2006;43:1089-1134.

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