There could be a serious up-tick.<\/p>\n
The Big Apple is about to be bled dry \u2014 and not just because of ferocious tax hikes. This spring and summer, NYC could see an influx of biblical levels of disease-harboring ticks and mosquitoes, borne aloft by warming weather and booming vector populations.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s enough to have locals itching for an escape from the city.<\/p>\n
Tick bites have been sending people to the emergency room at the highest rate in nearly a decade, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data<\/a>.<\/p>\n Epidemiologist Byron Backenson said that people have reported ticks in Central Park and Prospect Park (above). Getty Images<\/p>\n In early April, 71 out of every 100,000 emergency room visits were for tick bites \u2014 with the lion\u2019s share concentrated in the Northeast.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s just the tick of the iceberg.<\/p>\n For every 100,000 ER visits in the Northeast, 163 were related to ticks, up from 52 in March.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise me if we see more ticks this year than last,\u201d Byron Backenson, director of the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control at the New York State Department of Health, told The Post.<\/p>\n Although more common in the bucolic fields of the Hudson Valley and elsewhere upstate, tick populations have cropped up in all five boroughs, according to Fox News.<\/a><\/p>\n Backenson has heard reports of the eight-legged parasites infiltrating Central Park and Prospect Park, which wouldn\u2019t come as a surprise, considering a Columbia University study found that ticks now inhabit 70% of NYC parks<\/a> and are even latching onto Gothamites\u2019 prized pooches.<\/p>\n Bloodsucker bonanza<\/p>\n What\u2019s to blame for the tick, tick \u2026 boom? Experts point to a confluence of factors, including a spike in host animals. In 2023, a bumper crop of acorns caused an uptick in the numbers of deer, mice and other prime tick prey.<\/p>\n The Asian tiger mosquito (above) first arrived in the US in the 1980s. Pawich Sattalerd \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n Warming temps (the mercury hit a record 90 degrees<\/a> in Central Park on April 15) could also extend tick season, which traditionally runs from March until November, with peak activity from April to September.<\/p>\n \u201cOur spring comes earlier and fall ends later, we definitely see the ticks are active for longer periods of time,\u201d Backenson told The Post, adding that snow paradoxically helps shelter these blood suckers.<\/p>\n \u201cSnow is actually beneficial for ticks,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhen they make it through the winter, that snow almost acts like an insulating blanket, if you will, and the temperature at the bottom of that snow cover is pretty constant and it\u2019s just barely below freezing.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just ticks that New Yorkers need to worry about, though.<\/p>\n The Asian tiger mosquito \u2014 a prolific disease vector that arrived in the US in the 1980s, before establishing itself in NYC in the mid-2000s \u2014 continues to spread across town.<\/p>\n Last year, the Big Apple ranked third on Orkin\u2019s list of the most skeeter-ridden cities behind Los Angeles and Chicago.<\/a><\/p>\n And wet, hot New York summers \u2014 especially last year\u2019s borderline subtropical squalls \u2014 don\u2019t help as they provide an oasis for the invasive Asian Tiger mosquito.<\/p>\n \u201cIts activity period is going longer and longer into November, even,\u201d Laura Harrington, program director of the CDC Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-borne Diseases, told The Post. \u201cWe\u2019ll see adults [mosquitoes] flying around in New York and so that\u2019s very unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n The Cornell University entomologist added, \u201cThe longer they\u2019re active, a lot of these viruses really build up in the mosquito towards the end of the summer and that\u2019s where you have the highest risk.\u201d<\/p>\n Diseases that come with them<\/p>\n West Nile Virus remains the primary mosquito-borne pathogen in the city, present in all five boroughs<\/a>. Meanwhile, a September study found that cases were running 40% higher than normal.<\/a><\/p>\n Now, new diseases are beginning to take root. In October, health officials confirmed<\/a> the first locally acquired\u00a0mosquito-borne case of chikungunya \u2014 a tropical disease marked by fever and joint pain \u2014 in Nassau County, Long Island, marking the first US case of its kind in seven years.<\/p>\n A black-legged or deer tick transmits Lyme disease. ondreicka \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n While this was likely an isolated case, Harrington said this reflects broader global disease trends.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York is an international city,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople are coming in from areas where there are endemic pathogens.\u201d<\/p>\n In the same vein, ticks harbor over a dozen diseases, including\u00a0Rocky Mountain spotted fever and babesiosis.<\/p>\n Lyme remains the biggest concern.<\/p>\n Over the last three years, the Empire State has averaged more than 17,500 new cases <\/a>annually, with 19,000 recorded in 2023 alone.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was working on Lyme disease stuff almost 30 years ago, [it] was not a great big issue outside of Long Island and the areas sort of just north of New York City,\u201d said Backenson. \u201cOver [the] course of that particular 30 years, we have seen the risk of acquiring Lyme move further North and further West across New York.<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, there are plenty of people in New York City who wind up getting Lyme as well.\u201d <\/p>\n However, experts note that many of the New York victims contract it while traveling outside the city, as ticks need to be attached for more than 24 hours to transmit the disease.<\/p>\n Still, the Lyme-spreading black-legged tick boasts strongholds on Staten Island and certain parts of the Bronx.<\/a><\/p>\n Another growing concern is alpha gal-syndrome, a potentially fatal meat allergy that\u2019s transmitted by the invasive Lone Star tick<\/a> \u2014 an aggressive species that\u2019s prevalent on LI. In 2024, a New Jersey pilot <\/a>died after eating a hamburger while unknowingly harboring this condition.<\/p>\n How to keep yourself safe<\/p>\n Thankfully, there are ways to avoid these parasites\u2019 plasma tax. <\/p>\n Denoted by the white dot on its back, the Lone Star is known for transmitting a potentially fatal meat allergy known as alpha-gal syndrome. ondreicka \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n