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Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tick bites sending more people to ER than years past, CDC data shows
This summer is shaping up to be one of the worst tick seasons in recent years, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. Emergency room visits related to tick bites have spiked in 2025, reaching their highest point in five years nationwide, according to the CDC's Tick Bite Data Tracker. The Northeast has been hit particularly hard, with tick bites accounting for 283 ER visits per 100,000 during the peak month of May, up from 209 around the same time in 2024. The CDC reported by July 6 that the number of emergency department visits for tick bites had already exceeded nearly 10 years of July records, with 92 visits per 100,000 reported across the nation. Children ages 0 to 9 and people over the age of 70 were the most common of these ER visitors. Vector-borne illness, or disease transmitted by fleas, ticks and mosquitoes, has been on the rise in part due to climate change, said the CDC. With shorter and warmer winters becoming the norm, fewer disease-carrying ticks are dying off in the cold months, increasing the number that survive and can bite humans when the weather warms up. Other factors, including land use, pest control and access to healthcare, impact how many tick bites are reported and if related diseases are spread amongst the local human and pet population. Lyme disease is one of the most common tickborne illnesses, but the insects can carry several other diseases capable of infecting animals and humans. Humans may contract a variety of pathogens from ticks, according to the CDC, including: Anaplasmosis Babesiosis Bourbon virus Colorado tick fever Ehrlichiosis Hard tick relapsing fever Heartland virus Lyme disease Powassan virus Rickettsia parkeri rickettsiosis Rocky Mountain spotted fever Soft tick relapsing fever STARI Tularemia 364D rickettsiosis The CDC notes that many tickborne illnesses have similar symptoms, with some of the most common including: Fever/chills. All tickborne diseases can cause fever. Aches and pains. Tickborne diseases can cause headaches, fatigue and muscle aches. People with Lyme disease may also have joint pain. Rash. Lyme disease, Southern tick-associated rash illness (STARI), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF), ehrlichiosis and tularemia can cause distinctive rashes. The best cure for tick-borne illness is prevention, according to the CDC, which suggests the following to protect yourself from bites: Know where to expect ticks. Ticks live in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, or even on animals. Treat clothing and gear with products containing 0.5% permethrin or buy permethrin-treated clothing and gear. Avoid contact with ticks. Avoid wooded and brushy areas with high grass and leaf litter. Walk in the center of trails. Use containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone. EPA's helpful search tool can help you find the product that best suits your needs. Check yourself: Ticks gravitate to the areas behind the knees, the groin, armpits, neck, hairline, between the toes, and behind the ears, so check those areas each day after you come inside. Contributing: Bailey Allen, USA TODAY Network; Iris Seaton, Asheville Citizen Times This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tick bites causing more ER visits in 2025 than years past: CDC
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Tick bites are causing a spike in ER visits this year. An expert explains why.
Emergency room visits for tick bites this year are at the highest levels since 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The rise is especially prevalent in the Northeast, where June figures show 229 tick bites per every 100,000 visits to ERs — up from 167 per 100,000 visits in June 2024. Tick bites can land someone in the hospital due to a number of tick-borne illnesses. Lyme disease, for example, can cause severe symptoms in people who were bitten by ticks carrying the borrelia bacteria. Different types of infected ticks can spread other bacteria, viruses and parasites that make people sick. For example, black-legged ticks, also called deer ticks, can also spread babesiosis, anaplasmosis and Powassan virus disease. But why the spike in emergency room visits? A large driver is record-high tick populations in several states this year, Dr. Dennis Bente, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, told CBS News. "We are also seeing a longer tick season across the country, which historically has been a relatively predictable seasonal threat," Bente said. "While tick bites are more common in the summer because of increased outdoor activity, evidence shows that people must stay vigilant year-round now that ticks are also active in the winter because of warming driven by climate change." Health experts say people should be aware of the diseases ticks can carry, and follow prevention strategies to help protect themselves. "Most people don't realize that ticks transmit more viruses and diseases than any other animal in the world, so this rapid increase in population is a serious concern for public health," Bente added. He calls the bugs "sneaky opportunists," nothing they "hang out in bushes or on top of grasses and wait for pets or people to walk by." Experts recommend protecting yourself against ticks by wearing long-sleeved clothing and using insect repellant while outside and doing a tick check and taking a shower once back home. Bente calls tick checks the "most critical prevention measure," and suggests using mirrors to look in any warm areas where ticks might lurk, such as the groin, armpits, scalp, behind the ears and knees and waistband. Social media content creator shows his hustle Udemy Is Powering Enterprise AI Transformation Through Skills Hiker on how she survived face-to-face encounter with mountain lion
