As Americans head outdoors to enjoy the warm weather, more and more are being sickened by ticks, tiny creatures that can transmit a number of serious diseases.
Justin Timberlake announced on July 31, that he is one of the estimated 476,000 people that are diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease each year, an illness often transmitted through tick bites that Timberlake called “relentlessly debilitating.”
Meanwhile, emergency room visits related to tick bites have spiked in 2025, reaching their highest level in five years, according to the CDC’s Tick Bite Data Tracker.
The CDC reported by July 6 that the number of emergency department visits for tick bites had already exceeded nearly 10 years of July records, with 92 visits per 100,000 reported across the nation. Children ages 0 to 9 and people over the age of 70 were the most common of these ER visitors.
A gorged deer tick captured in 2007 in Columbia, South Carolina is part of the Clemson University anthropod collection in Long Hall.
Why is this tick season so bad?
Climate change is one of the main factors impacting tick populations, according to experts at the Binghamton University Tick-borne Disease Center.
“Ticks can now move further north than they could before and establish populations,” Mandy Roome, associate director of the center, has said. “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.”
Roome said land use can also affect the tick population. She said construction activity can create new habitats for animals like mice, which can pass on pathogens to ticks.
What is Lyme disease? Justin Timberlake shares ‘debilitating’ diagnosis
“The deer, the mice—when their ranges and numbers increase, we absolutely are going to see an expansion of ticks,” Cassandra Pierre, an assistant professor of infectious diseases at the Boston University’s Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine has said. “And longer warmer weather also allows for there to be more exposure to ticks, because people are out more.”
Why are tick bites dangerous?
Ticks can carry several diseases capable of infecting humans and animals. People typically get Lyme disease, for example, when they are bitten by a tick carrying borrelia bacteria, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Humans can also contract a variety of other pathogens from ticks, according to the CDC, including:
How to prevent tick bites
If you expect to be in an area where ticks live, such a park, backyard or campsite, be extra careful when venturing outside. Ticks can be a year-round annoyance, but they are most active in the warmer months of April through September.
Where are ticks found? Maps show where the disease-carrying parasites live
Contributing: Janet Loehrke
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tick bites way up as Justin Timberlake warns of Lyme disease
