Lyme disease is not contagious from person to person
You cannot catch Lyme disease by touching someone who has it, sharing food or drinks, or being near them when they cough or sneeze. The infection spreads only through the bite of an infected tick — specifically a tick in the nymph or adult stage that carries the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Once someone has Lyme disease, they cannot pass it to another person through any form of contact.
This is an important distinction because many people worry about transmitting the disease to family members or caregivers. That risk does not exist. The only way to contract Lyme disease is to be bitten by an infected tick in an area where the disease is present.
Key Takeaways
- Lyme disease spreads only through tick bites, not through contact with an infected person.
- A person with Lyme disease cannot transmit the infection to others through touch, saliva, blood, or any other bodily fluid.
- Pregnant people with Lyme disease can pass the infection to the fetus, though this is rare and the risk depends on the stage of pregnancy.
- The only way to reduce your Lyme disease risk is to prevent tick bites in yourself and your household members.
How Lyme disease actually spreads
Ticks that carry Lyme disease are most commonly the blacklegged tick (also called the deer tick), found across the northeastern United States, the upper Midwest, and the Pacific Coast. These ticks pick up the bacterium when they feed on infected animals — usually deer or rodents — and then carry it for the rest of their lives.
When an infected tick bites a human, the bacterium enters the bloodstream through the bite wound. The tick must be attached for at least 24 to 48 hours for transmission to occur in most cases, though this timing can vary. Once the infection is in your body, it spreads through your bloodstream and can affect your joints, heart, and nervous system if left untreated.
A person with Lyme disease does not shed the bacterium through saliva, sweat, urine, or any other bodily fluid. Even if someone with Lyme disease is bitten by a tick, that tick will not become infected simply from feeding on them — the tick must already carry the bacterium before the bite happens.
Pregnancy and Lyme disease transmission
The one exception to person-to-person non-transmission is pregnancy. A pregnant person with untreated Lyme disease can pass the infection to the fetus across the placenta. This is rare, but it can happen at any stage of pregnancy.
If you are pregnant and have been diagnosed with Lyme disease, your doctor will discuss treatment options with you. Antibiotics used to treat Lyme disease in pregnancy are considered safe when prescribed by a healthcare provider familiar with your situation. The risk of untreated Lyme disease to the fetus is generally considered greater than the risk of appropriate antibiotic treatment.
Newborns born with Lyme disease (called congenital Lyme disease) are rare in the United States, and cases that do occur can be treated with antibiotics. If you are pregnant and live in an area where Lyme disease is common, tick prevention is especially important.
Why people sometimes think Lyme disease spreads between people
Confusion about Lyme disease transmission often arises because multiple people in the same household sometimes get sick around the same time. This happens not because one person infected the others, but because they were all exposed to ticks in the same environment — a backyard, a hiking trail, or a wooded area where they spent time together.
Another source of confusion is the existence of chronic Lyme disease or post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, conditions where symptoms persist after treatment. Some people believe these conditions are contagious, but they are not. They are the result of ongoing inflammation or incomplete bacterial clearance in the original infected person, not a transmissible infection.
What you should do if someone in your household has Lyme disease
If a family member or housemate has Lyme disease, you do not need to isolate them or take special precautions to avoid catching it from them. You should, however, take the same tick prevention steps you would take for yourself: check your body and clothing for ticks after spending time outdoors, remove any ticks promptly, and use tick repellent when in wooded or grassy areas.
The fact that one person in your household has Lyme disease is actually a signal that ticks are present in your environment. This means everyone in the household should be more vigilant about tick checks and prevention. If multiple people in your household develop symptoms of Lyme disease, it is because you were all exposed to infected ticks, not because the disease spread from person to person.
Children and pets in a household with someone who has Lyme disease face the same tick exposure risk as anyone else in that environment. Teach children to check for ticks, use appropriate repellents, and remove ticks safely if found. For pets, talk to your veterinarian about tick prevention products.
Tick prevention is the only protection
Since Lyme disease spreads only through tick bites, prevention focuses entirely on avoiding tick contact. In areas where Lyme disease is present, wear light-colored clothing that makes ticks easier to spot, tuck pants into socks when walking in tall grass or woods, and use an insect repellent containing DEET or permethrin on exposed skin and clothing.
After spending time outdoors, check your entire body for ticks, paying special attention to warm, moist areas like the groin, armpits, and behind the knees. Ticks are often very small — nymphs can be the size of a poppy seed — so a thorough check is important. If you find a tick, remove it with tweezers by grasping it as close to the skin as possible and pulling straight out.
Showering within two hours of coming indoors may help wash off unattached ticks. Putting clothes in a hot dryer for 10 minutes will kill any ticks on fabric. These simple steps reduce your risk far more than worrying about transmission from other people.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get Lyme disease from someone's blood or saliva?
No. The bacterium that causes Lyme disease does not live in saliva or circulate in blood in a way that makes it transmissible through contact with bodily fluids. Lyme disease spreads only through tick bites.
If my partner has Lyme disease, can we have sexual contact?
Yes, without any risk of transmission. Lyme disease is not sexually transmitted. You can have normal physical contact with someone who has Lyme disease without any concern about catching it from them.
Can a mother pass Lyme disease to a baby through breast milk?
No. Lyme disease does not spread through breast milk. A mother with Lyme disease can breastfeed safely. The only way a fetus or newborn can acquire Lyme disease is through transmission across the placenta during pregnancy.
What if someone in my house has untreated Lyme disease?
Untreated Lyme disease in one household member does not increase the risk to others in the home. However, it does mean ticks are present in your environment, so everyone should take tick prevention steps. Encourage the person with Lyme disease to seek treatment for their own health, not because of transmission risk to others.
Can pets spread Lyme disease to humans?
Pets cannot transmit Lyme disease to humans, but they can bring infected ticks into your home on their fur. Check your pets for ticks regularly and talk to your veterinarian about tick prevention products to protect both your pet and your household.