Can Lyme Disease Be Transmitted By Food?

How is Lyme Disease Transmitted?

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Lyme disease is transmitted by the bite of an infective tick.

Ticks go through four life stages: egg, larva, nymph, and adult. They evolve from one life stage to another by molting Each of the last three stages (the "active" life stages) requires a blood meal. If the tick feeds on an infected host animal, the tick becomes infected. Ticks that transmit Lyme disease can retain the infection throughout their life and are able to transmit the infection to subsequent hosts. This ability to pass the infection on to other hosts makes the tick "infective". Adult ticks generally do not pass the spirochete on to the next generation.

Transmitters of the bacteria in North America include: the Western black-legged ( Ixodes pacificus) tick in the West, and the black-legged tick ( Ixodes scapularis) in the rest of the country. The black-legged tick was temporarily known as the "deer" tick ( Ixodes "dammini"). Research is underway to determine if the lone star tick ( Amblyomma americanum) may also transmit the infection.

Other host-specific ticks may play a minor role in maintaining the infection in nature. This creates a type of "bi-cycle". One cycle being animal-tick-animal feeding and the other cycle being animal-tick-human feeding. The wood rat ( Ixodes neotomae) and the rabbit tick ( Haemaphysalis leporispalustris) are two examples of ticks that may maintain the infection in nature, but not transmit it to humans. These ticks feed almost exclusively on the hosts mentioned in their common name.

In other parts of the world, other ticks are responsible for transmitting the disease to people, such as the sheep tick ( Ixodes ricinus) in Europe, and the Taiga tick ( Ixodes persulcatus) in Asia.

These ticks can be anywhere - in the woods, by the seashore, or even in your backyard.

While ticks can bite year-round, peak tick season in the northeast is April - September, and on the West coast is November - April. Ticks can survive under a variety of conditions as long as adequate moisture is available.

An infective tick with local infection must be attached to the host for a day or more before transmission of Bb occurs. However, a systematically infected tick or improper tick removal may cause transmission of LD much sooner.