This year is a bad year for ticks...

Statista's Anna Fleck reports that new research has found that ticks are becoming more widespread due to changes in the climate, land use and human-animal interactions. The biggest risk areas are in warm-temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, such as China, the United States and parts of Europe, with some of the areas most at risk of future tick expansion are France, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania and the UK.

One of the species of ticks increasing in number across the U.S. is the lone star tick, which has been found to cause allergic reactions to red meat, also known as the alpha-gal syndrome (AGS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that around 110,000 cases of AGS have been documented since 2010, but that the actual figure could be closer to 450,000. According to a 2023 CDC survey among healthcare providers, awareness around the tick-borne disease is still lacking, with 42 percent of respondents having not heard of AGS, and another 35 percent having reported that they were “not too confident” about their ability to diagnose or manage patients with the syndrome.

A better known disease caused by infected ticks is Lyme disease. In the U.S., this is caused mostly by blacklegged ticks, which are commonly found in forested areas in the northeastern, north-central, and mid-Atlantic states and in smaller areas within Pacific Coast states. While a vaccine against Lyme disease is currently being worked on, it is still unavailable.

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Untreated Lyme disease can cause an array of symptoms, including extreme fatigue, a rash, a fever and arthritis. It usually takes more than 24 hours before the infection is passed from a tick that is attached to a human and so removing the tick quickly can prevent transmission of the disease.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a record high of 62,551 cases of Lyme disease were reported in 2022 (latest available data). Nationwide, this equated to an incidence rate of around 18.77 per 100,000 people.

Lyme disease is believed to be becoming more prevalent, with data published by the Environmental Protection Agency showing an increase in cases in 2022. However, it is difficult to measure the true extent of the increase due to a change in the data classification systems between 2022 and earlier, as well as the increase in awareness and testing.

As the chart above shows, Rhode Island, Vermont, Maine and West Virginia recorded the highest incidence rates of Lyme disease across the U.S. in 2022, ranging between 137.7 and 212 cases per 100,000 people.

The CDC advises preventative measures to be taken by those in high risk areas, such as long grasses in known tick regions, including wearing protective clothing and insect repellant, as well as immediate tick removal using fine-tipped tweezers, followed by cleaning the bite area. In some cases, a single dose of doxycycline might be needed to be administered.