How long must a tick that is infected with the Lyme disease bacteria be attached to a person before the bacteria is transmitted to the

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Again we find controversy in the available "answers".

Art has compiled extensive data in this area. Below is a compendium of the answers he found and a link to his page of data.

In my personal opinion (I am not a doctor, this is NOT medical advice!) it is prudent to suffer from what NOT Lyme literate doctors refer to as "Lyme Hysteria" thus increasing the possibly of avoiding Lyme disease or any of several other tick-borne diseases. I have studied this disease extensively and I believe if there is any exposure to tick bite prophylaxis is best.

Summary of "answers" from the references below:
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"as soon as they bite"
three hours
a few hours
several hours
after only 6 hours
after 8 hours
many hours
12-24 hours
16-24 hours
18-49 hours
less than 24 hours
as early as 24 hours
at least 24 hours
24 hours
more than 24 hours
24-48 hours
36 hours
36-24 hours
36-48 hours
42 hours
48 hours/2 days
after 48 hours
72 hours
greater than or equal to 72 hours
some days
<<<<<
SNIP
>>>source unknown:

While it is true that it takes the spirochete some time to travel to the
salivary glands from the tick's midgut where it resides, at the Lyme
Conference, Willy Burgdorfer described a study in which they found 5 to 10 percent of ticks already have the spirochete in their salivary
glands. That means they transmit the disease as soon as they bite..<<<

SNIP, To read this article and much more visit this link: http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Oasis/6455/tick-attachment.txt

"The European Union Concerted Action World Wide Web Site for Lyme Borreliosis." M. Smith, G. Gettinby, M. Granstrom, J. S. Gray, E. C. Guy, C. W. Revie, J. N. Robertson, and G. Stanek. Zentralblatt fur Bakteriologie: International Journal of Medical Microbiology, Virology, Parasitology and Infectious Diseases. vol. 287. 1998. pp. 266-270.

These findings show that borrelia can be transmitted by ticks when they start to feed. An explanation for this may be that a proportion of ticks carry borreliae in their salivary glands. Furthermore, a study on gerbils and I. ricinus by other EUCALB participants (Kahl, Gray) has shown that transmission can sometimes occur in less than 24 hours. http://www.dis.strath.ac.uk/vie/LymeEU/pactin2.htm *

*The above link no longer works but this is such an interesting study I have chosen to leave it on the site.

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