Evil diseases.
Stealthy, almost ‘clever’.
False negatives occur because the little bug bastards disappear from blood and go “hide” in bone marrow and spleens.
PCR/DNA complete tick panels can catch them usually but not always.
Best advice is to treat as if it’s positive, no matter what and watch for improvement.
*Most* of the tick born diseases can be massacred by Doxycicline.
Erythromycin and Cefuroxime also get them.
I *just* finished a month of Cefuroxime as a precaution because a tick was between my toes.
For 3 weeks, it itched, burned, hurt like hell and then the horrible blisters started.
I was half-scared my toe was gonna fall off.
HATE ticks.
They are nasty.
Sure makes it hard to love the great outdoors with those little bastards lurking about.
Good to know they have a weapon now.
I remember back in the 80’s it was like, nobody knew WTF was going on.