2025 is the worst tick season ever for New York. Tick populations are up in all five boroughs on NYC and on Long Island. In Central NY, ticks have increased 200%.
The typically cooler climate and wooded areas of the the Northeastern United States goves us terrific spring and summer weather AND the ticks love it too!
The tick situation this summer is severe, driven by a bumper crop of acorns in 2023 that led to increased populations of acorn-eating animals like deer, mice, and squirrels leading to a surge in ticks, which feed off of these animals.
Information out of Columbia University says, “Increases in deer and tick populations in the regions around New York or any other city can lead to an increased number of ticks in the city. These days, deer are being 'pushed' into the city as deer populations grow and as human populations expand out into areas that were previously forested or uninhabited.”
Yetrib Hathout, professor of pharmaceutical sciences and director of the Binghamton University Tick-borne Disease Center, collects and screens ticks to see which pathogens they carry and which changes occur from season to season, year to year. Close to 500,000 new cases of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases arise each year.
“People talk about Lyme disease, but ticks carry different pathogens, not only the Borrelia that causes Lyme,” said Hathout. “When someone gets bitten by a tick, usually doctors just give them doxycycline, which may work against some bacteria, but it doesn’t work against parasites such as Babesia. The bottleneck right now is an accurate diagnosis.”
Hathout said that pathogens that would normally be confined to a specific region of the country are starting to spread. The number of ticks carrying multiple infectious pathogens is increasing in the Northeast.
Mandy Roome, associate director of the Tick-borne Disease Center “Ticks can now move further north than they could before and establish populations,” said Roome. “Going back maybe 15 or 20 years ago, there wasn’t much of an issue. Ticks were still around, people still got tick-borne diseases, but it wasn’t quite the problem that it is now. We’re also having really mild winters. Deer ticks are active anytime it’s over 39 degrees, so we have a lot longer active periods for ticks now, unfortunately.”
The NYS Health department says while hiking, working, or spending time in wooded areas, follow these simple steps to help prevent tick bites:
- Wear long pants, long-sleeved shirts and closed-toed shoes.
- Keep long hair tied back, especially when gardening.
- Check for ticks often while outdoors and brush them away before they attach.
- Perform a full body check multiple times during the day, as well as at the end of the day, to ensure that no ticks are attached.
- Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing after you come indoors.
- Shower soon after coming indoors.
- Remember to check pets thoroughly for ticks after spending time outdoors and talk to your veterinarian about ways to reduce ticks on your pet.
- Consider using EPA-registered repellents labelled as effective against ticks containing DEET, picaridin, or IR3535, and follow label instructions. If you are using sunscreen, apply sunscreen first and insect repellent second.