HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled efforts to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and research for tick-borne diseases, aiming to reduce cases and improve patient outcomes.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled efforts to enhance diagnosis, treatment, and research for tick-borne diseases, aiming to reduce cases and improve patient outcomes. PULSE POINTS WHAT HAPPENED: Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced new initiatives to address Lyme disease , alpha-gal syndrome, and other tick-borne illnesses on Monday, focusing on faster diagnoses, improved treatments, and advanced research. Actor Dennis Quaid joined the announcement as a patient advocate, highlighting the need for accurate diagnoses and his personal story of misdiagnosis. DETAIL: Kennedy emphasized that nearly 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually, and many more are misdiagnosed or…Open
Suffolk County health officials have confirmed a fourth case of tularemia on Long Island this year, extending a steady rise in the rare but potentially deadly tick-borne illness that has no vaccine available to the public. Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, confirmed the latest case to ABC News […] The post Fourth case of 'rabbit fever' confirmed on Long Island as tick-borne infections climb appeared first on American Almanac .
Suffolk County health officials have confirmed a fourth case of tularemia on Long Island this year, extending a steady rise in the rare but potentially deadly tick-borne illness that has no vaccine available to the public. Dr. Gregson Pigott, commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, confirmed the latest case to ABC News on Thursday. The bacterial infection, caused by the organism Francisella tularensis, is commonly known as "rabbit fever" because hunters who skin and gut wild rabbits risk direct exposure. It spreads to humans primarily through tick bites, deer fly bites, handling infected animal tissue, breathing contaminated dust, or drinking contaminated water. It does not spread person to person. The case…Open
A Long Island father of three spent five days in the hospital and waited five years for a diagnosis after contracting a rare tick-borne virus that has no treatment, no commercial test, and has already killed two Americans. Michael Larkin, 67, of Suffolk County, New York, became the state's first confirmed case of Bourbon virus […] The post New York confirms first case of Bourbon virus, a tick-borne illness with no cure appeared first on American Almanac .
A Long Island father of three spent five days in the hospital and waited five years for a diagnosis after contracting a rare tick-borne virus that has no treatment, no commercial test, and has already killed two Americans. Michael Larkin, 67, of Suffolk County, New York, became the state's first confirmed case of Bourbon virus after researchers at Stony Brook University identified the infection in April 2026, roughly five years after two lone star ticks bit him while he worked in his own yard. The diagnosis came only after a year-long antibody trial, and it raises a question public health officials should have been asking sooner: how many other cases across the Northeast are going undetected? Bourbon virus was first identified in 2014 in…Open
It's a tick that hunts you down and transmits a potentially dangerous allergy to red meat. The New Yorker writer Burkhard Bilger discusses the lone star tick and the risks of alpha-gal syndrome.
Effort includes funding clinical research on products that may be able to stop Alpha-gal syndrome, which can create serious allergic reactions to red meat after tick bites.
