Wear long pants tucked into boots or socks and wear long-sleeved shirts buttoned at the cuff. Examine clothing, skin and pets for ticks and remove them promptly. Significance Be aware of Lyme disease, but do not be so concerned that you cannot enjoy the outdoors. The risk of developing the illness is minimal in Michigan and even if infection occurs the disease can be diagnosed and treated with antibiotics. The relationship between deer and the disease is complex.
Deer show no symptoms of the disease.
Deer may carry small numbers of the spirochete that causes Lyme disease but they are dead-end hosts for the bacterium. Deer cannot infect another animal directly and no deer hunter has acquired the disease from dressing out a deer. Infected ticks that drop from deer present little risk to humans or other animals since the ticks are now at the end of their life cycle and will not feed again. There is no evidence that humans can become infected by eating venison from an infected deer. In addition, the Lyme organism is killed by the high temperatures that would be reached when venison is cooked or smoked.