Is Lyme disease contagious?

One of the first questions in relation to any disease or medical condition is of course whether or not lyme disease is contagious?

The short and simple answer is no lyme disease is not contagious from person to person in the conventional sense of the word. However, this page will provide you with information on rare and speculated circumstances where this answer may appear to be slightly inaccurate.

As we have mentioned on our main page lyme disease is a vector-borne disease which means that it requires a carrier, such as a tick in this case, to move from host to host in order for it to be spread. It is not like a cold that is caught by all the conventional methods of something that is contagious such as by coming into contact with someone through kissing or germs in the air being breathed in.

However, contrary to common belief there are various, although incredibly uncommon, ways to catch lyme disease.

For example, as with another common vector-borne disease, malaria, it is possible for lyme disease to be transmitted from human to human via a blood transfusion. However, in countries such as the USA and the United Kingdom there are very strict rules as to who can donate blood so the chances of anybody with lyme disease slipping through the net and having the infected blood passed to somebody else are very remote.

Although we have said that the main vector of lyme disease is the tick it can also be possible for it to be caught from infected mosquitoes if they have previously extracted the bacteria by biting an infected human or animal.

One rare way for lyme disease to be transmitted is from a pregnant mother to her foetus. However this can be treated with antibiotics and is not known to have been fatal.

It has been argued that lyme disease can be transmitted sexually through the transfer of semen and also through breast milk from mother to baby however there is little to prove these theories.

Although lyme disease is not contagious it is possible to contract the disease several times.

It is possible for animals to also contract lyme disease. Dogs are often bitten by ticks as when they are in the environment that the lyme ticks are found, woodland, moorland, heathland and other grassy areas, they do not take care of where they run or roll around and this results in maximum exposure. For further information please visit our lyme disease in dogs page.

Because the primary vector is the tick it is common for dogs to catch lyme disease too. If you have a dog it is vital to check them for ticks regularly as they could bring ticks home from a walk that could then jump to you or your family when they enter your home and bite you with or even without you noticing. If you have small children you should extra vigilant of the possibility of this happening.

If you live in an area where lyme disease is an issue, you have dogs yourself or have been around people that have dogs then check out our early symptoms of lyme disease page if you think that you may have been exposed to ticks or just to generally educate yourself on the disease.

In summary we can say that as far as the conventional definition of contagious goes, lyme disease is certainly not contagious, however in some uncommon circumstances it is possible for the disease to be passed from one human being to another.