Antibiotics can cure Lyme. But the earlier treatment starts, the better - yet there's no good test to diagnose Lyme, and not everyone suffers early Lyme symptoms and thus knows to seek care. Check yourself and your children regularly for ticks. Wear long sleeves and pants tucked into socks or boots when venturing into tick-prone areas like unmowed grass or brush. But that last bit of advice is unrealistic.
Ticks are most active in the summer when people are stripping down to shorts and bare feet.
And it's not just campers, hikers or utility workers stomping through the brush who are at risk. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved the world's first Lyme vaccine, SmithKline Beecham's LYMErix. Now doctors are advising anyone age 15 to 70 who lives in a Lyme-endemic state and spends time outdoors to consider being vaccinated. It's not for everyone. It hasn't been tested in the very elderly, pregnant women or people with such chronic diseases as rheumatoid arthritis.