Clobetasol increases the abundance of Borrelia burgdorferi in the skin 70 times more in male mice compared to female mice.

Lyme borreliosis is caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted among vertebrate hosts by Ixodes scapularis ticks in eastern North America. Treatment with topical corticosteroids increases the abundance of B. burgdorferi in the skin of lab mice that have been experimentally infected via needle inoculation.