Lyme Disease Cases Are Rising In The Midwest

Ticks are not born carrying Lyme, but instead contract the disease as larvae by feeding on infected animals, such as deer, robins or mice, study co-author Jean Tsao, an associate professor of fisheries and wildlife at Michigan State University, told Live Science in an email. The ticks retain the bacteria into adulthood, and once a tick becomes infected, it can pass the bacteria along to the next animal it bites.