What You Know About Lyme Disease Might Be Wrong

Deer ticks are abundant in New England. So are myths about Lyme disease.

It's true that the black-legged tick, also known as a deer tick, carries multiple types of diseases, the most common being Lyme disease.

“There’s a misperception that Lyme disease is difficult to treat,” says Infectious Disease Expert Jeffrey Parsonnet, MD of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC).“Another misunderstanding is that once you have Lyme disease, it stays with you forever.”

With the 2025 tick season underway, how do you separate fact from fiction?

Myths vs. facts about Lyme disease

Myth: Finding a tick on your body is cause for alarm.

Fact: “If the tick is not attached, you have nothing to worry about,” says Marika Henegan, MD, medical director of Urgent Visits at Dartmouth Health’s Cheshire Medical Center.

If the tick was attached for less than 36 hours, no further action is required beyond removing the tick and cleaning the bite area.

Myth: Being bit by an infected deer tick means you will get Lyme disease.

Fact: You can still ward off Lyme disease, even if the tick has been attached, fed and is infected. A single dose of an antibiotic, doxycycline, can be given at this stage to prevent Lyme disease.

If you aren't sure how long the tick has been attached or know that it has been more than 36 hours, seek medical attention that day or the next.

Myth: You’ll always get a bull’s-eye rash if you have Lyme disease.

Fact: Other symptoms include fever, chills, fatigue, muscle or joint aches and swollen lymph nodes.

Plus, the rash from Lyme can go unnoticed.

“The rash of Lyme disease is not painful. So that's why it's often missed,” Parsonnet says.

Myth: Tick checks are only necessary if you’ve been out in the woods.

Fact: Tick checks are a good idea whether you’ve been gardening, hiking a trail or playing at the park with your kids.

“Deer ticks are very small,” Parsonnet says. “Oftentimes, people don't notice an attached tick because it is on their back or their legs. But tick checks are important, and are especially important for parents and their children.”

Myth: Lyme disease is untreatable if antibiotics are not given immediately.

Fact: Getting treatment sooner than later is better. But Lyme disease can still be effectively treated with appropriate antibiotics at any time after the onset of infection, Parsonnet says.

A course of antibiotics in the early stages of Lyme disease allows most people to recover rapidly and fully.

But if Lyme disease goes unnoticed and eventually enters either a person’s nervous system or joints—most often the knee joint—then four weeks of antibiotics might be necessary, he says.

Also, sometimes people need intravenous (IV) therapy using the antibiotic ceftriaxone.

“We do occasionally see people who have gotten into that late stage of Lyme disease without prior treatment, and they may require a more intensive course,” he explains. “But for the most part, a standard course of an oral antibiotic—10 to 14 days—is adequate to eliminate Lyme disease.” 

Myth: A blood test is the best way to diagnose Lyme disease.

Fact: Parsonnet says there is no benefit of blood testing for Lyme disease at the time of the tick bite. Even if you become infected, you will not have a positive blood test until about two to six weeks after the tick bite.

Myth: Once you get Lyme disease, you’ll have it forever.

Fact: When properly treated, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease are eradicated and do not go on to cause chronic infection. But some people continue to experience symptoms, a condition called post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).

How do you safely remove an attached tick?

Once a tick bites you, it will likely attach itself to you and won’t let go until it is full. Depending on the type of tick, this may take three to 10 days. The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommendations are:

• Do not try to remove an attached tick with your fingers. Squeezing its body rather than its head puts you at greater risk of contracting tick-borne illnesses.
• Remove the tick immediately by grasping the head with fine-nosed tweezers as close to the skin as possible. Do not twist the tick. Instead, use a slow, steady, upward motion to pull the tick off. This minimizes the chances you will squeeze the body or leave the head behind.
• Clean the bite area with alcohol or disinfecting soap and water, then treat with a topical antibiotic.
• Get help from the CDC Tick Bite Bot.

“If you pull a tick off on Friday and then go in to see your doctor on Monday, that's too late to be treated with a single dose of preventative antibiotics,” Parsonnet says. “Lyme disease can be very serious. But the good news is that antibiotics are very effective at preventing and treating Lyme disease.”