Zhou G, Xu X, Zhang Y, et al. - It is common to encounter bites from ticks in areas with endemic Lyme disease. In the absence of a vaccine against Lyme disease for humans, it becomes relevant to explore the feasibility of using antibiotic prophylaxis to avoid Lyme disease after a tick bite. Herein, more precise evidence is explored and optimum treatment strategies are identified and updated.

• Searching PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library for studies, researchers included six studies (3,766 individuals), in which enrolled patients were randomly allocated to a treatment or control group within 72 h following a tick bite and had no clinical evidence of Lyme disease at enrolment.

• Persons receiving treatment and the control group had occurrence of unfavorable events at the rate of 0.4% and 2.2%, respectively.

• In subgroup analysis, the pooled RR was 0.29 in the single-use 200-mg doxycycline group; 0.28 in a 10-day course group (Amoxicillin, Penicillin or tetracycline); and 0.73 in a topical antibiotic treatment group (Azithromycin).

• In view of the evidence, researchers herein support the use of antibiotics for the prevention of Lyme disease, and suggest the use of single-dose as advantageous.