something may have changed since my last brush with Lymes, which would have been 12ish years ago. So, they may now be able to catch it sooner, but I'm 90% sure it took them over 2 weeks from the time of the bite to when it would test positive. My oldest son had the pure doughnut around a tick bite and got flue like symptoms. Had to send him with the practice wife to the doctor twice, telling him that he had Lymes. The first time, the Dr didn't believe it. So, I had to send them back the next day and demand the medication.
A couple side notes...First, if they are removed in less than 24 hours of attachment, the odds of even an infected tick transmitting Lyme are very low. So, I always check myself thoroughly at the end of each day in the woods, right before jumping in the shower. Then, I scrub hard with a cloth, in an attempt to peal any off that I may have missed. For the last 30+ years, I've picked hundreds of ticks off a year and never got Lyme, just by doing that.
Last year I got into what the locals in WC IL call seed ticks (picture baby deer ticks). I'd never heard of them and somehow had managed to avoid them. I no doubt had gotten them before and just never noticed, as they make deer ticks look big. I got into them 2 days in a row REALLY bad (I'm talking somewhere over 500 both days). The only reason I noticed is because I just started to itch like crazy by the end of the day, as I was getting so many little bites (side note, they wash right off with a wash cloth soaked in mouth wash).
Anyway, it was pure torture, maddening, and I vowed to never go through that again. Permethrin is a thing of great beauty. I don't think the brand matters, but I picked up 6 cans of REPEL at Fleet Farm. I just spray my boots, pants below the knee and a loop around my waist...I've gotten 1 tick so far this year (it was on my neck), and I'm always somewhere over a couple hundred by now. It has exceeded my expectations.