{"id":338414,"date":"2026-05-30T00:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338414\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T00:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T00:56:09","slug":"cdc-reports-rise-in-er-visits-for-tick-bites-as-summer-nears-in-kern-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338414\/","title":{"rendered":"CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) Emergency room visits for tick bites are rising across the country, according to the CDC, as summer approaches and more people head outdoors.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2026\/2026-cdc-data-show-weekly-er-visits-for-tick-bites-higher-than-usual.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">CDC report<\/a> from April says that in all regions except the South Central United States, weekly rates of ER visits for tick bites are the highest for this time of year since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>In Kern County, public health officials say ticks can be found across California, particularly in certain outdoor environments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTicks are little bugs that live out in the community. There are ticks throughout the state of California. They typically live in sort of these grassy wooded areas,\u201d said Kim Hernandez, division director of health services at the Kern County Public Health Department.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0825e74d-e24d-4b3e-af00-6008043dee77-VOTICKSEASON_frame_1384.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n<p>Hernandez said ticks can transmit multiple illnesses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTicks can spread a number of diseases. The most well known one is Limes disease. So a lot of people have heard of it but there is also a number of spotted fevers that have a variety of names like Rocky Mountain spotted fever and things like that that are transmitted by ticks,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n<p>To help prevent tick bites, Hernandez recommended using repellents and treating clothing and gear with products designed to keep ticks away.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important to consider treating your clothing and your gear with products that will repel ticks so those typical types of bug spray. So check to make sure ticks are on that list if things its going to repel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)(File\/WWMT)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a6dd6128-3f66-4d33-aec7-57fcb788c66b-VOTICKSEASON_frame_266.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)(File\/WWMT)<\/p>\n<p>She also emphasized washing clothing and gear in hot water.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you wash it on a cold cycle that\u2019s not going to kill a tick,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n<p>On local trails, some hikers say they take precautions before heading out. <\/p>\n<p>Bakersfield resident Will Hutchison said he relies on insect repellent and protective clothing.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/bc00bcfe-99c9-40e8-8f0a-51062a86192e-VOTICKSEASON_frame_1196.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>CDC reports rise in ER visits for tick bites as summer nears in Kern County (KBAK\/KBFX)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI make sure I&#8217;m wearing insect repellent, at least on my hands and the arms and the back of my neck. And long pants and long sleeves usually,\u201d Hutchison said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) Emergency room visits for tick bites are rising across the country, according to the CDC,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":338415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-338414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}