The Center For Disease Control (CDC) has posted a new link on their Lyme Disease Homepage:
Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) Guidelines for Treatment of Lyme Disease
The lingo is way medical and technical but makes for informative reading.
Threat of deer ticks and Lyme Disease should rarely keep anyone in good health from hiking. With proper vigilance tick bites can be avoided, the majority of deer ticks, tho the bite can be annoying and must be cared for to avoid infection, are not infected themselves with the bacteria that produces Lyme Disease and in the case of an infectious bite, with early treatment the risk of infection from Lyme Disease via a tick bite is negligible for healthy adults.
At the same time it is important to be aware that deer ticks and Lyme Disease do, in fact exist, care must be taken to minimize exposure and that if exposed, proper medical steps must be followed.