Improving access to appropriate post-exposure doxycycline for Lyme disease prophylaxis: role for community pharmacies

The transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi to humans through tick bites results in Lyme disease. Appropriate therapy for Lyme disease is antibacterial drugs, most often doxycycline. Patients often approach community pharmacists for self-care assistance with the symptoms of Lyme disease: fever, headache, fatigue and skin rash. Pharmacists with the patient history are trained and capable of appropriately dispensing doxycycline to treat these patients and prevent the spread of infection to the joints, nerves or heart. We challenge restrictions to the appropriate and timely provision of therapy for Lyme disease and encourage the use of community pharmacists in managing these patients.