Antibiotic treatment with tetracycline, erythromycin, or doxycycline cures the infection. Although the drug usually is taken orally, it may be given intravenously if severe vomiting makes swallowing impractical. Optimally, treatment is started either early in a fever stage or during a symptomless interval. This reaction is typical and sometimes fatal in people with the louse-borne disease. Dehydration is treated with fluids given intravenously.
Severe headache is treated with pain relievers such as codeine.
Dimenhydrinate or prochlorperazine may be given for nausea. Lyme Disease Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, which is usually transmitted by tiny deer ticks. The disease was recognized and named in 1975 when a cluster of cases occurred in the small community of Lyme, Connecticut. Since then, Lyme disease has appeared in 47 states, including those along the northeastern coast from Massachusetts to Maryland as well as Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, and Oregon. The disease is well recognized in Europe and has been reported in the former Soviet Union and in China, Japan, and Australia.