Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is often associated with wooded or grassy areas where deer mice live. It is more common in the north, the Pacific Northwest and northern states of the Midwest.

Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacterium is found in small animals like mice. It can carry people in these animals by Ixodes ticks (known as black-legged ticks or deer). These ticks pick up Borrelia burgdorferi when they bite infected birds and then infect humans by the bite of their person and pass the bacteria in the bloodstream.