Ticks are found in every U.S. state, and different tick-borne illnesses are found in different parts of the country. Lyme — which is caused by four main species of bacteria — is the most common tick-borne disease. But ticks carry many other pathogens that can cause disease.
In this Answers from the Lab podcast from Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Dr. Elitza Theel, Ph.D., director of the Infectious Diseases Serology Lab at Mayo Clinic, talks with Bobbi Pritt, M.D., chair of the division of clinical microbiology at Mayo Clinic. They discuss the tests that detect tick-borne infections and how they work.
Relevant reading
The Mayo Clinic: Faith – Hope – Science
The Mayo Clinic: Faith – Hope – Science is the companion book to the two-hour PBS documentary of the same title. This book features interviews with patients including John McCain and the Dalai Lama and tells the story of William Worrall Mayo, an English immigrant who began practicing medicine with…
