Tick Risks Vary by Region. Here’s Where Diseases Have Spread and How To Stay Safe
June 23, 2025 | Source: NPR | by Pien Huang
There are early signs that it could be a bad year for tick bites. In May, the rate of people seeking emergency care for tick bites was the highest it’s been since 2019, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
If you get a tick bite, you’re not alone: They happen in every U.S. state, and some 31 million people get tick bites each year.
Not every tick bite yields disease, since not every tick carries pathogens or bites long enough to transmit them. Still, most reported cases of vector-borne disease (including mosquitoes) come from ticks, which can carry pathogens with terrible consequences.