Tick bites are sending more people to the ER this summer. Experts explain why.
Emergency room visits for tick bites this year are at the highest levels since 2019, according to data from the .
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 , 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."
Dr. Céline Gounder, CBS News medical contributor and editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News, said it shows how the planet's health impacts our own health.
"We are having milder winters, wetter springs, which means for longer tick breeding seasons," she explained on "CBS Mornings." "We're also seeing ticks move into geographic areas where we have not seen them before, and all of this adds up to more tick exposure and more tick bites."
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 said.
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.
