Lyme disease - primary

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

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

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Lyme disease - primary

Alternative Names:

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

Treatment:

The goal is to eliminate the infection with antibiotics, and prevent secondary or tertiary infection. Antibiotics include doxycycline, tetracycline, cefuroxime, or amoxicillin in children.

Note: Oral tetracycline is usually not prescribed for children until after all the permanent teeth have erupted. It can permanently discolor teeth that are still forming.

Expectations (prognosis):

The signs and symptoms usually resolve in 3 to 4 weeks, even without treatment. With treatment, all signs and symptoms should resolve completely. The secondary or tertiary form of the disease may develop if the initial infection is not treated.

Neurological or cardiac symptoms may develop in the second stage of the disease, followed by arthritis and brain or nerve damage in the third stage of the disease.

Complications:

secondary Lyme disease
tertiary Lyme disease
can have co-infection with ehrlichiosis or babesiosis

Calling your health care provider:

Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you exhibit symptoms of Lyme disease, particularly if you could have been exposed to ticks.

Call your health care provider if sensory or muscular weakness, numbness or tingling, or heart irregularities develop.

Review Date: 6/15/2005
Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, Sanf Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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