Health Matters

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Why we're hearing more about Lyme disease this summer

By Alice Park

Senior Health Correspondent

It’s summer, which means vacations, leisurely outdoor activities—and Lyme disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking rising numbers of cases over the past few decades, due to a number of factors, including the push into suburban areas where the Lyme-spreading ticks flourish. Climate change also plays a role: It may be expanding the tick’s natural range.

Here’s what Lyme experts want you to know about the latest season:

Testing for Lyme doesn’t work the same way as testing for COVID-19. Lyme tests detect the antibodies people make against the disease-causing bacteria, and not the bacteria itself, which is why it may take several weeks for infected people to test positive.
Not every tick carries the Lyme bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, and not every infected tick transmits the bacteria to people. It takes ticks 36 to 48 hours of feeding on human blood to transmit the bug.
Researchers are currently testing vaccines and treatments that would protect people from getting sick even if they’re bitten by an infected tick.

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Today's newsletter was written by Alice Park and Oliver Staley, and edited by Angela Haupt.

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