Lone Star Tick Invades Western Suffolk

@newsday has been reporting on tick issues on Long Island quite a bit this year. It’s not surprising since we’re experiencing the highest amount of tick-related emergency room visits since 2019. Lone star tick has dominated eastern LI for years but it’s now creeping it’s way west as well.

From a recent article:

“We are having lots of children come into the office and the emergency department for evaluations of tick bites,” said Dr. Andrew Handel, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital who has a focus on tick-borne illnesses. “So far, we haven’t seen much Lyme disease ... but the bites themselves are absolutely happening.”

The main culprit at this time of year is the lone star tick, an aggressive biter … which can carry diseases including ehrlichiosis and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Some people who are bitten by lone star ticks develop a red meat allergy known as alpha-gal syndrome.

“What we are finding is that ehrlichiosis is increasing in western Suffolk over time,” said Campbell, director of the Arthropod-Borne Disease Laboratory at the Suffolk County Department of Health Services. “The assumption is it’s because we’re starting to see an increase in the lone star ticks in western Suffolk…”

full article available in the Health section 5/23/25