By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
New York City health officials are advising healthcare providers to be alert tick-borne diseases (TBDs) as people may be spending more time outdoors than usual in tick habitats.
Officials note recent travel to upstate NY, Long Island, and other parts of the northeast, mid-Atlantic and upper Midwest should prompt consideration of TBDs in people with a compatible clinical presentation.
The travel exception is endemic spotted fever group rickettsial diseases (e.g., Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and rickettsialpox, which is endemic to NYC and transmitted by the mouse mite, not ticks).
The number of people in NYC diagnosed each year with a TBD had been trending upward since 2000, with fluctuations from year to year.
The number of cases of TBDs are highest in residents of Manhattan (and Brooklyn for Lyme disease) compared with other boroughs. However, from 2015-2018, Staten Island had the highest incidence rate of Lyme disease in NYC, most likely due to the increase in the number of locally acquired cases. In 2019, the incidence rate of Lyme disease in Staten Island decreased to the lowest rate since 2014.
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