According to a report from Newsweek, scientists and health officials are sounding the alarm over a sharp rise in tick bites across much of the United States, raising concerns about a potentially severe season for Lyme disease and other tickborne illnesses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that emergency room visits for tick bites have reached their highest levels for this time of year since 2017 in nearly every region of the country, with the exception of the South Central states.
Nicole Baumgarth, a professor of immunology and infectious disease at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, expressed serious concern about the trend. “Unfortunately, it seems that we are in for a very bad year,” she said.
Baumgarth added that experts are observing “an increasing number of tick infections, tickborne illnesses every year … and it’s unlikely this trend is going to change.”
Regional data shows increases across the board: the Midwest rose from 40 to 53 visits per 100,000, the Southeast from 21 to 24, the West from 16 to 18, and the South Central region from 7 to 9. These figures, officials caution, represent only the visible tip of a larger wave of tickborne diseases.
Lyme disease, caused by bacteria transmitted through bites from infected blacklegged ticks, typically presents with fever, fatigue, headache, and a distinctive bull’s-eye rash. Untreated, it can affect joints, the heart, and the nervous system. Cases are most prevalent in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Upper Midwest during warmer months.