How do ticks get Lyme and other diseases?

Question

I know that ticks carry Lyme and other diseases but I want to know if they are hatched already carrying the disease or do they have to bite an already infected host animal?

There have been 2 good answers describing how ticks may get diseases and spread them. My primary question has not been answered directly. If an infected tick lays eggs and those eggs hatch will the baby ticks already carry Lyme Disease, or will they also need to bite an infected host?

Answer 1

"The Lyme disease bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, normally lives in mice, squirrels and other small animals. It is transmitted among these animals – and to humans -- through the bites of certain species of ticks.
In the northeastern and north-central United States, the blacklegged tick (or deer tick, Ixodes scapularis) transmits Lyme disease. In the Pacific coastal United States, the disease is spread by the western blacklegged tick (Ixodes pacificus). Other tick species found in the United States have not been shown to transmit Borrelia burgdorferi. Blacklegged ticks live for two years and have three feeding stages: larvae, nymph, and adult. When a young tick feeds on an infected animal, the tick takes the bacterium into its body along with the blood meal.
The bacterium then lives in the gut of the tick. If the tick feeds again, it can transmit the bacterium to its new host. Usually the new host is another small rodent, but sometimes the new host is a human.
Most cases of human illness occur in the late spring and summer when the tiny nymphs are most active and human outdoor activity is greatest."

Answer 2

Ticks bite and suck blood from their hosts. Because they feed on blood, there is a wide variety of diseases ticks can carry. They have a bad habit of bailing out on their host after a full meal and then attaching to a new host. Thus they make very good vectors (disease carrying organisms).

Answer 3

These critters are carriers of the disease. They bite an infected animal and then transfer the disease to the next victim. Mosquitos, ticks, fleas, etc are examples of blood feeders which can transmit disease.

Answer 4

Drinking Bacardi and Coke with lime