Mary LaMarca wrote:

"I ... would hope that anyone's doctor would be willing to give doxycycline 
based on these recommendations. In my opinion, this is not a case of 
unnecessary abuse of antibiotics; in this case, the possible consequences of 
untreated Lyme disease or Erlichiosis, combined with the high probability 
that deer ticks in our area carry one of the diseases, make this a 
no-brainer decision."

This was basically my advice much earlier in this thread.  Having followed 
the thread with great interest, I feel very fortunate to have a personal 
doctor who, as I stated in an earlier post, treats 100% of tick bites with a 
course of doxycycline (he told me this after I was bitten several times this 
spring). When I told him how much time I spend in the field, he told me to 
be careful, but if need be, he would keep me on doxycycline all summer - 
whether I have symptoms or not!  And to think that some doctors out there 
resist prescribing doxycycline therapy for tick bites! In my opinion, that's 
malpractice.

Thanks everyone for a truly enlightening and interesting thread.  BTW, 
contact me off list if you want the name of my doctor...

Tom Stock
Silver Spring
altomomatic at verizon dot net