Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI) is a disease that looks and acts much like Lyme disease. STARI is specifically associated with bites from a Lone Star Tick Amblyomma americanum.
The rash of STARI is a red, expanding “bull’s-eye” lesion that develops around the site of a Lone Star tick bite. The rash usually appears within 7 days of a tick bite and expands to a diameter of 3 inches or more.
Symptoms may also include fatigue, headache, fever, and muscle pains. The saliva from lone star ticks can be irritating; redness and discomfort at a bite site does not necessarily indicate an infection.