Where Do Ticks Get Lyme Disease? The Wildlife Cycle
Lyme disease begins in a wildlife cycle, not with people. Ticks acquire Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease, when they feed on infected small mammals, especially white-footed mice and other rodents. An infected tick can later transmit the bacterium through a tick bite. Ticks usually get Lyme disease from infected small mammals. Deer…