Trails Viewpoint Volunteer JavaScript is not available in your browser. Shopping is disabled. Although both will unpleasantly burrow into your skin and may carry diseases, only the deer tick carries Lyme disease. It is expected to be worse this year. Lyme Disease is a major problem - do not treat it lightly.
Prompt treatment seems to be very effective with no lasting side effects.
Non-treatment can have very long term major side effects, primarily arthritis, but also other problems including death in extreme cases. Treating the disease in its later stages is very hard and may leave lasting side effects. The primary defense is avoidance of tick bites. Ticks do not bite like mosquitoes or the other flying insects, i.e. an immediate bite. The ticks crawl around on your skin for a while, perhaps hours, before settling down for a meal by imbedding their head in your skin.