Overview
- CDC surveillance shows weekly emergency visits for tick bites at 71 per 100,000 people, the highest rate since 2017 and more than double the same period last year.
- Hospitals have logged 131 tick-bite visits since the start of 2026, up from 102 during the first three months of 2025, according to CDC data.
- The Northeast is seeing the heaviest load of emergency visits, with Pennsylvania standing out in recent reports.
- Clinicians in some practices are giving preventive antibiotics for suspected Lyme exposures, while doctors advise most patients to call their primary care provider first.
- Health guidance urges DEET or picaridin repellents, long clothing, full-body tick checks after time outdoors, and prompt removal with fine‑tipped tweezers; officials are also tracking species such as the Asian longhorned tick now found in about 20 states.