"so I can't imagine an LFT test working terribly well, especially for nymphs, which are responsible for a lot of Lyme infections due to being easy to miss."

Even smaller and less noticeable are the larvae. And I know I learned that they cannot transmit the disease, because they only do so, if they have biten an infected animal before - so I never worried about small ticks, but apparently new research indicates, that this is wrong.

"However, newer research suggests that some pathogens, including Borrelia miyamotoi, may be transmitted from the adult female tick directly to her offspring.

This means larval ticks may already be infected before their first bite."

https://danielcameronmd.com/larval-ticks-borrelia-miyamotoi/