Originally Posted by
ironwood
The CDC only suggests a prophylactic dose in certain cases: ie. if the tick has been feeding for more than 36 hours.
www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickbornediseases When I am home I can talk to my doctor about a tick bite. But what does one do if you have a tick bite while on tour in a region that is underserved by doctors?
If you have a cooperative doctor, who's willing to trust you to adhere to protocols, you might ask for a script for antibiotics, with the understanding that you'll only take them when indicated, ie. you discover a feeding tick.
This is a balancing act between abuse because of excess caution and underprescribing while awaiting confirmation of infection. It's not unreasonable to start a course of antibiotics while awaiting lab results, if there's reasonable suspicion.
Whether you're temperamentally able and willing to adhere to guidelines, is something for you and your doctor to discuss.
However, tick bite and snake bite are very different in terms of urgency. I don't think a few days delay would matter even if bitten by an infected tick. So I'd be more inclined to wait and deal with that situation if and when it arises.