HorseFly bite and Lyme possible?

hello and welcome

there is little clear cut evidence on this

there are two documented cases in the scientific literature of lyme being transmitted by horse fly bites - one with classical bulls-eye rash - but it does seem to be extremely rare -

its important to bear in mind borrelia ( the bacterium that causes lyme disease) is highly co-evolved to be transmitted by ticks - normally requiring much longer attachment times than horsefly bites - and requiring some of the immune disrupting chemical injected in the tick saliva to successfully infect its hosts

in addition bulls eye rashes are not like the reaction you describe - they are flat - rather than raised / swollen - and do not tend to itch.

on the other hand horse flies or biting flies in general do transmit many other infections

in fact my partner and i became ill with chronic illness after being bitten by a swarm of super aggressive horse flies on farm land. that turned out to be bartonella - which can have many lyme like symptoms.

more commonly - some people just have severe reactions to biting things - for instance my brother has severe swelling and cellulitis after almost any biting fly/bug bites him - but does not have lyme

do you have any other symptoms ?

i hope its of some help

If I were you - I’d take a few weeks of antibiotic to be safe.

no, i didn't have any rash - just small itchy bumps where they bit us

I would take antibiotics if it were me.
In Australia, I have been told you can get the local variant of Lyme from mosquitos.
I have also heard in Iraq, where my daughter was living, that sandflies carry a lyme-like infection.
The rash is supposed to give you an indication as to whether it is Lyme. If it looks like a bulls-eye, then I would pay attention and treat accordingly.