It's Already a Bad Tick Season. Here's How to Protect Yourself.

(Science Times)

Tick season has begun with a vengeance: This year, there were more emergency room visits for tick bites during April than in any year since 2017.

Millions of people are used to coexisting with these tiny arachnids, which spread Lyme disease and other illnesses. But as the climate warms and development brings us into closer contact with ticks, the risks are changing.

Ticks are surviving winters in larger numbers and staying active for more of the year. Species are expanding into new areas and potentially picking up new pathogens.

Here's what to know to protect yourself.

Ticks are carrying diseases to new places.

A constellation of factors, including climate change, is driving ticks into different regions. That means people may be exposed to species they haven't encountered before, said Dr. Bobbi Pritt, a professor of laboratory medicine and pathology at the Mayo Clinic with expertise in tick-borne diseases.

Blacklegged ticks

Blacklegged ticks, aka deer ticks, have long been common in the Northeast and Upper Midwest. But every year, they are proliferating farther north, bringing Lyme disease and other infections along with them. Their populations are also increasing in some Southern states.

Lone star ticks

Lone star ticks, native to the South, have expanded greatly over several decades, including to Long Island, New York, and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Their bites can cause a meat allergy called alpha-gal syndrome, as well as bacterial and viral infections.

Gulf Coast ticks

Gulf Coast ticks, which can transmit Rickettsia bacteria, were typically found within 100 miles of the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Atlantic Coast, and have now reached states including Maryland and Ohio.

Asian longhorned ticks

The Asian longhorned tick, an invasive species first identified in the United States in 2017 (in New Jersey), has spread "remarkably fast," said Laura Goodman, an assistant professor in the department of public and ecosystem health at Cornell University. It has been found as far afield as Oklahoma and Connecticut. Scientists have confirmed that the tick can spread Rocky Mountain spotted fever in laboratory settings, and they are working to fully understand which other pathogens it might carry, Goodman said.

More ticks are carrying multiple diseases.

The blacklegged tick, which carries Lyme disease, can also carry lesser-known diseases like anaplasmosis (a bacterial infection) and babesiosis (a malarialike infection caused by Babesia parasites).

These illnesses aren't common, but they are increasing, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data and health care records. So are the odds that one tick will carry multiple pathogens, according to a recent study.

In that study, researchers collected more than 2,000 ticks in New York's Hudson Valley. They found that in 2014, only 3.5% of tick nymphs -- those in an early life stage -- carried both the Lyme-causing Borrelia bacteria and Babesia. In 2022, it was 10.8%.

The researchers found other combinations, too, but this one particularly alarms experts because Babesia doesn't respond to the antibiotic that treats many other tick-borne infections; it requires a two-drug cocktail.

If someone has Lyme and doesn't realize they also have anaplasmosis, the treatment prescribed for Lyme should take care of both, said Shannon LaDeau, the lead author of the study and a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies. But a patient who doesn't know they have babesiosis won't receive the necessary medications.

While some people with babesiosis have flulike symptoms or no symptoms, the infection can damage red blood cells, the kidneys, the liver and the spleen. It can be life-threatening, especially for immunocompromised people.

Standard precautions are still important.

They may not be exciting, but "good old-fashioned preventative measures really are the best," Pritt said.

That can mean tucking pants into socks, wearing long sleeves and choosing light-colored clothing so ticks are easier to spot. A lint roller can remove tiny, hard-to-see nymphs. Repellents are also helpful: Permethrin can be applied to clothing, and DEET or picaridin can be applied to skin.

Keep in mind that you don't have to hike in the woods to be exposed. Some ticks can be found in backyards and parks, too.

After spending time outside, check your body, especially warm, damp areas like your underarms, groin, ears, scalp and knees. If you find a tick attached to your body, use tweezers to grasp it close to the skin and pull it out. Wash the area with soap and water, and dispose of the tick by wrapping it in tape or drowning it in alcohol. (Don't crush it with your fingers.)

It's also a good idea to identify the tick species so that if you develop symptoms your doctor can narrow down possible diagnoses. Some apps can identify ticks by photo. You can also put the tick in a sealable bag and freeze it to take to the doctor if needed.

Common symptoms of many tick-borne illnesses include fever, rashes, muscle pain and headaches. (A rash shaped like a bull's-eye is characteristic of Lyme disease, though not all Lyme patients have it.) If you develop symptoms, Goodman said, you should ask to be tested for all infections carried by the species that bit you if you know it -- or by ticks in your region if you don't.

Scientists are working on new tools.

We have limited options for preventing, diagnosing and treating tick-borne diseases.

For instance, while Lyme vaccines are available for dogs, they aren't for people. And some illnesses are hard to detect early, said Dr. Christopher Bazzoli, an emergency physician at the Cleveland Clinic with expertise in wilderness medicine.

But there are potential developments on the horizon.

Pfizer recently announced that its experimental Lyme vaccine appeared to significantly reduce infections, but it required four doses, and there was considerable uncertainty about exactly how much it lowered risk. Even so, several experts interviewed for this article said they would support people in high-risk regions getting the vaccine if the Food and Drug Administration approved it.

Researchers and startups are also working on better diagnostic tools.

Bazzoli and Goodman said they were optimistic about a pair of Lyme tests from a company called IGeneX that received FDA approval in 2024 and 2025. Together, they can detect two kinds of antibodies: both the immune system's earliest responders and ones that appear later. Other companies are testing potentially promising options that, if validated in trials, could become available within the next year or two.

"Testing is moving in the right direction," Bazzoli said. "But we're still waiting for that silver bullet."

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Copyright 2026 The New York Times Company

This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 5:38 PM.