{"id":280316,"date":"2026-09-06T13:16:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/280316\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T13:16:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T13:16:55","slug":"pennsylvania-lawmakers-push-to-close-gaps-in-tick-borne-disease-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/280316\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Lawmakers Push to Close Gaps in Tick-Borne Disease Tracking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stock photo via Pexels<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania House Republicans held a policy hearing Wednesday on tick-borne illness, where legislators heard that the state has no requirement to report many tick-borne diseases to public health authorities, leaving the true scope of the problem unknown.<\/p>\n

As the Pennsylvania Capital-Star reported<\/a>, the House Republican Policy Committee convened in Cumberland Township, Adams County to hear from researchers and patients.<\/p>\n

Preliminary 2025 figures show nearly 19,000 Lyme disease cases statewide, up from roughly 2,300 in 2000. More than 1,000 anaplasmosis cases were also recorded in 2024. Yet several other tick-borne conditions go uncounted entirely.<\/p>\n

The Bill on the Table<\/p>\n

Rep. Catherine Wallen, a Republican representing Adams and Cumberland counties who has personally dealt with chronic Lyme disease, is sponsoring House Bill 2710.<\/p>\n

The measure would require health care practitioners to report cases of babesiosis, a rare parasitic illness spread by deer ticks that resembles malaria.<\/p>\n

It would also mandate that medical professionals complete one hour of continuing education on tick-borne disease diagnosis and treatment as part of their licensure and renewal process.<\/p>\n

Wallen told FOX43<\/a> that most people underestimate how difficult it is for patients to get diagnosed and treated.<\/p>\n

Reporting on the hearing also captured a parent who described how her child’s Bell’s palsy was correctly identified as a Lyme symptom only because a pediatrician recognized it.<\/p>\n

Wallen noted in a memo seeking co-sponsors that the state Department of Health has proposed updating its communicable disease reporting requirements to include tick-borne illnesses, but final regulations are not due until 2028, and babesiosis may not make the cut.<\/p>\n

What Researchers Told the Committee<\/p>\n

Erika Machtinger, a Penn State associate professor of entomology who leads the university’s Vector-borne Disease Team, told the committee that Pennsylvania has built solid tick surveillance infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The state increasingly knows where ticks are present and what pathogens they carry. The gap, she said, is translating that knowledge into prevention.<\/p>\n

Machtinger added that public education remains a major barrier, particularly around the fact that different tick species carry different pathogens. Not all ticks pose the same risk.<\/p>\n

Kaitlyn Good, a data visualization specialist at the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, told the committee that Lyme disease hotspots are not limited to rural areas.<\/p>\n

Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh and its suburbs, recorded 2,628 cases, the highest county total in the state.<\/p>\n

Other Diseases on the Radar<\/p>\n

Beyond Lyme disease and babesiosis, researchers flagged Powassan virus and alpha-gal syndrome as additional concerns.<\/p>\n

Alpha-gal syndrome, sometimes called red meat allergy, is triggered by bites from lone star ticks and causes an immune reaction to sugars found in tick saliva and most mammalian meat products. These conditions currently fall outside mandatory reporting requirements.<\/p>\n

Wallen urged residents to advocate for themselves whether or not they have been bitten by a tick, according to FOX43. The hearing was organized by the House Republican Policy Committee.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stock photo via Pexels Pennsylvania House Republicans held a policy hearing Wednesday on tick-borne illness, where legislators heard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280317,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-280316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}