Healthcare The Rising Threat Of Tick-Borne Diseases In America—Here’s What To Know By Omer Awan ,
Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Dr. Omer Awan is a practicing physician who covers public health. Follow Author Jun 23, 2026, 04:38pm EDT --:-- / --:-- This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more . Summary Tick-borne diseases, including Lyme, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and alpha-gal syndrome, are at a decade-high, with emergency room visits surging. This increase stems from warmer temperatures extending tick activity and suburban expansion boosting human-wildlife contact. Lyme disease, America's most common, affects half a million annually, presenting with symptoms like a bull's-eye rash, treatable with doxycycline. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a serious, often fatal illness requiring urgent doxycycline treatment. Alpha-gal syndrome, caused by lone star tick bites, triggers red meat allergies. Prevention is key, involving protective clothing, repellents, thorough tick checks, and prompt removal to mitigate these growing health threats.
This engorged tick, collected in Annapolis, Maryland is likely a female adult deer tick, or Ixodes scapularis. Deer ticks are also called blacklegged ticks and can transmit the pathogens that cause tickborne diseases such babesiosis and Lyme disease. Credit: NIAID (Photo by: IMAGE POINT FR/NIH/NIAID/BSIP //Universal Images Group via Getty Images) BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images Tick-borne diseases and ED visits for them are the highest they’ve been in a decade, according to reports from the CDC. As Americans spend more time outdoors, illnesses such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome are increasing in both frequency and geographic spread. Here’s what you need to know about tick-borne diseases.
Warmer temperatures and milder winters allow ticks to survive in regions that were previously too cold for them. Longer warm seasons also mean ticks remain active for more months in the year, increasing opportunities for human exposure. As an example, rising temperatures have allowed the American dog tick, which is responsible for transmitting Rocky Mountain Spotted fever, to survive and cause disease in higher latitudes like Canada, although it is primarily endemic in parts of southeastern and south-central America.
Changes in land and suburban expansion have also contributed to greater tick exposure for humans. As communities expand into wooded areas, people are coming into contact more often with deer, mice and wildlife that serve as hosts for ticks.
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, with nearly half a million patients treated every year for it in America. Caused by the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi, it spreads primarily when the blacklegged deer tick bites a human and then transmits the bacteria through its saliva. The tick usually needs to stay attached to a human for about 1-2 days before causing any symptoms.
Symptoms for Lyme disease include fever, fatigues, headache, muscle aches and a characteristic “bull’s-eye” rash. The disease is usually treated with doxycycline, an antibiotic. If left untreated, Lyme disease can progress to cause facial paralysis, heart rhythm abnormalities, arthritis and other serious complications.
Another serious tick-borne illness is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, caused by the...