Abstract
To the Editor: Dr. Steere briefly addresses the important question of prophylactic antibiotic therapy for deer-tick bites in his superb review of Lyme disease (Aug. 31 issue).1 Others have offered the opinion that only attachments by engorged deer ticks warrant treatment.2 Although it is believed that Borrelia burgdorferi is transmitted mainly in the later stages of tick feeding,3 4 5 the earlier transmission of small numbers of the organism has not been ruled out. Ribeiro et al.3 were unable to procure sufficient saliva for examination before three days of attachment, after which spirochetes were seen. We do not know the minimal inoculum.