It is during this feeding when B. burgdorferi is passed from tick to host. The ticks must be attached and feeding from the host for at least 24 hours in order to transmit. The cylindrical shape of the bacteria allows it to wriggle into tight places, like between cells, it's movement much like a snake and aided by flagella and axial filiments. Once the body has established there is an invader, the immune system releases antibodies and lymphocytes. Antibodies are proteins that lock into invading bacterium to destroy them.
Lymphocytes are cells that attack the bacteria directly.
While the two are fighting to get rid of the disease, an infected person experiences flu-like symptoms. There has been no evidence or reported cases of Lyme Disease having been transmitted by blood transfusion with infected blood, sexual contact, air, water, or by other blood feeding insects such as fleas and mosquitoes. Lyme Disease is very, very rarely fatal. When an infected tick has bitten a host, the skin around the bite becomes red and swollen where the skin nearest to the bite is almost clear, which is where the nickname bulls-eye came from. The rashes range in size from a dime to perhaps the width of a leg or back.