The following excerpt is from Dr. Burrascano's "western treatment guidelines for lyme disease treatment"‹which has a section on what to do if you have a tick bite. (see addedndum below)

TREATMENT CATEGORIES PROPHYLAXIS of high risk groups- education and preventive measures. Antibiotics are not given.

TICK BITES - Embedded Deer Tick With No Signs or Symptoms of Lyme (see appendix): Decide to treat based on the type of tick, whether it came from an endemic area, how it was removed, and length of attachment (anecdotally, as little as four hours of attachment can transmit pathogens). The risk of transmission is greater if the tick is engorged, or of it was removed improperly allowing the tick's contents to spill into the bite wound. High-risk bites are treated as follows (remember the possibility of co-infection!):

1) Adults: Oral therapy for 28 days.

2) Pregnancy: Amoxicillin 1000 mg q6h for 6 weeks. Test for Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichia. Alternative: Cefuroxime axetil 1000 mg q12h for 6 weeks.

3) Young Children: Oral therapy for 28 days.

EARLY LOCALIZED - Single erythema migrans with no constitutional symptoms:

1) Adults: oral therapy- must continue until symptom and sign free for at least one month, with a 6 week minimum.

2) Pregnancy: 1st and 2nd trimesters: I.V. X 30 days then oral X 6 weeks 3rd trimester: Oral therapy X 6+ weeks as above. Any trimester- test for Babesia and Ehrlichia

3) Children: oral therapy for 6+ weeks.

MANAGING LYME DISEASE, 16h edition, October, 2008 Page 36 of 37. This watermark does not appear in the registered version - http://www.clicktoconvert.com

PATIENT INSTRUCTIONS ON TICK BITE PREVENTION AND TICK REMOVAL- HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM TICK BITES PROPERTY.

Remove wood piles, rock walls, and bird feeders as these attract tick-carrying small animals and can increase the risk of acquiring Lyme. INSECTICIDES: Property should be treated with a product designed to target the rodents that carry ticks- bait boxes and a product called "Damminix" can be used. Use these products in conjunction with liquid or granular insecticides.

LIQUID & GRANULAR PESTICIDES: Products meant for widespread application such as permethrin and its derivatives are preferred. They are available as a liquid concentrate and as granules. If liquid insecticides are used, application should be by fogging, not by coarse sprays. Apply these products in a strip a few feet wide at the perimeter of the lawn at any areas adjacent to woods and underbrush. Also treat any ornamental shrubs near the house that may serve as a habitat for small animals. The best time to apply these products is in late Spring and early Fall. In every case, professional application is recommended.

CLOTHING: When wearing long pants, tuck the cuffs into the socks so any ticks that get on shoes or socks will crawl on the outside of the pants and be less likely to bite. Also, light colored clothing should be worn so the ticks will be easier to spot. Smooth materials such as windbreakers are harder for ticks to grab onto and are preferable to knits, etc. Tick repellents that contain "permethrin" (Permanone, Permakill) are meant to be sprayed onto clothing. Spray the clothes before they're put on, and let them dry first. Do not apply this chemical directly to the skin. Ticks are very intolerant of being dried out. After being outdoors in an infested area, place clothes in the dryer for a few minutes to kill any ticks that may still be present.

SKIN:  Insect repellents that contain "DEET" are somewhat effective when applied to the arms, legs, and around the neck. Do not use any repellent over wide areas of the body as they can be absorbed causing toxicity. Also, it is inadvisable to use a product that contains more than 50% DEET, and 25% concentrations are preferred. Use repellents cautiously on small children, as they are more susceptible to their toxic effects. Be aware that this repellent evaporates quickly and must be reapplied frequently.

Check carefully for ticks not only when you get home but frequently while still outside!

HOW TO REMOVE AN ATTACHED TICK: Using a tweezer (not fingers!), grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull straight out. Then apply an antiseptic. Do not try to irritate them with heat or chemicals, or grasp them by the body, as this may cause the tick to inject more germs into your skin. Tape the tick to a card and record the date and location of the bite. Remember, the sooner the tick is removed, the less likely an infection will result.

APPENDIX RATIONALE FOR TREATING TICK BITES: Prophylactic antibiotic treatment upon a known tick bite is recommended for those who fit the following categories:

1.            People at higher health risk bitten by an unknown type of tick or tick capable of transmitting Borrelia burgdorferi, e.g., pregnant women, babies and young children, people with serious health problems, and those who are immunodeficient.

2.            Persons bitten in an area highly endemic for Lyme Borreliosis by an unidentified tick or tick capable of transmitting B. burgdorferi.

3.            Persons bitten by a tick capable of transmitting B. burgdorferi, where the tick is engorged, or the attachment duration of the tick is greater than four hours, and/or the tick was improperly removed. This means when the body of the tick is squeezed upon removal, irritated with toxic chemicals in an effort to get it to back out, or disrupted in such a way that its contents were allowed to contact the bite wound. Such practices increase the risk of disease transmission.

4.            A patient, when bitten by a known tick, clearly requests oral prophylaxis and understands the risks. This is a case-by-case decision. The physician cannot rely on a laboratory test or clinical finding at the time of the bite to definitely rule in or rule out Lyme Disease infection, so must use clinical judgment as to whether to use antibiotic prophylaxis. Testing the tick itself for the presence of the spirochete, even with PCR technology, is helpful but not 100% reliable. An established infection by B. burgdorferi can have serious, long-standing or permanent, and painful medical consequences, and be expensive to treat. Since the likelihood of harm arising from prophylactically applied anti-spirochetal antibiotics is low, and since treatment is inexpensive and The prevention treatment IS the treatment. Prevention WITHOUT TREATMENT is more when someone has NOT been bitten by a tick.

In other words, in order to prevent secondary and tertiary stages of chronic lyme, one must treat with antibiotics for 6-8 weeks, if there is any possibility at all of having gotten lyme. A tick bite is a very HIGH possibility of having lyme .If one has had a tick bite, one must assume the high possiblility of lyme disease (primary stage‹because it is the ONLY time (within the first 2-4 months when it is easy to treat‹e.g it is actually SAFER and less ricky to assume that lyme disease is present at the beginning.

The chronic stages are EXTREMELY hard to treat, and one does not want to get to that stage even (e.g. The minimal damage to ones body with 6 weeks of antibiotics (and there are various ones to try if one does not work,) is very low compared to the high risk of getting secondary or tertiary lyme which is so hard to treat.(treatable but usually 1-8 yrs of antibiotic treatment with average of 4 yrs) It's kind of like tetanus, if one gets punctured by a rusty nail, they need to get a tetanus  shot, and assume the C.tetani organism is there. However, there is no vaccine or antitoxin for lyme as there is with tetanus‹therefore, the only prevention IS the treatment once the skin has been broken.

Read Dr. Burrascanos "western treatment guidelines for lyme disease treamtment"--he also says what to do if you have a tick bite.It should not matter if there was a rash, or how long the tick was there or even if they did not find lyme or Borrelia on the tick. One must assume the worst at the beginning because it is much easier to treat.(One might think 6-8 weeks of antibiotics is not so great, but it is really a  tiny little drop in the bucket compared to 4-8 yrs of antibiotics, and lots of difficult symptoms.

Antibiotics have been proven to be very effective for 1st stage lyme (if the proper ones are given (2 different kinds) for the proper amount of time(6-8 weeks).Any less time than this is not adequate. Only one antibiotic is not adequate (you need 2 different kinds). Herbal or other remedies have not been proven for early stage lyme, and because it can be a severe and difficult disease at later stages, one would advocate for the proven antibiotic treatment for 1st stage lyme. Herbal remedies are very effective for later stages of lyme.--it's not known whether they are effective for early stage lyme or which ones.If one cannot absolutely take antibiotics for early stage lyme, there are herbal remedies, but not well proven for early stage lyme.