Tickborne Disease

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The Tickborne Disease Info-line, (914) 813-LYME, is available 24-hours-a-day with current information about Tickborne Diseases and their prevention.

Health Department staff perform active outreach to identify trends in Lyme Disease, human ehrlichiosis and other tick-borne diseases. Thousands of reports are received annually from physicians or laboratories for investigation .

These activities assure that the Health Department has an accurate picture of Lyme Disease and ehrlichiosis in the County and that physicians are provided with the most up-to-date tools to prevent, diagnose and treat tick-borne diseases.

A relatively new and potentially more deadly tickborne disease, ehrlichiosis, continues to spread in Westchester County. Education, prevention of tick bites and recognition and treatment of early signs and symptoms remain our best weapon in the battle against tickborne diseases. Another tickborne disease, babesiosis, is now found in Westchester County also.

From left to right:
The deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) adult female, adult male, nymph, and larva on a centimeter scale.
Courtesy of Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov)

Illustration of three human-biting tick species found in the United States. Only Ixodes ticks are known to transmit the Lyme disease bacterium to humans. (Click here for an enlarged image).
Courtesy of the CDC

Black-legged ticks Ixodes scapularis are responsible for transmitting Lyme disease bacteria to humans in the northeastern and north-central United States. On the Pacific Coast, the bacteria are transmitted to humans by the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus). Ixodes ticks are much smaller than common dog and cattle ticks. In their larval and nymphal stages, they are no bigger than a pinhead. Ticks feed by inserting their mouths into the skin of a host and slowly take in blood. Ixodes ticks are most likely to transmit infection after feeding for two or more days