Connecticut sees highest levels of emergency room visits for tick bites since 2017

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]While they are small, they're disgusting, and they're sending more people to the ER at an alarming rate.

[00:00:05]>> Yeah, ticks are not new to Connecticut, the birthplace of Lyme disease, but right now our state is seeing more emergency room visits for tick bites than almost anywhere in the country.

[00:00:14]>> Your reporter Dylan Fearon is live at Corey Park in Rocky Hill with some of the warning signs you need to watch out for. Dylan.

[00:00:22]Well, Erin and Stephanie, good evening to everybody. You probably won't feel the tick crawling around your body, but hopefully, even though they're very small, you will see it during your quick tick check.

[00:00:34]This group of friends is off for a walk on the Farmington River Trail. School year's finished, college finals over, they're enjoying the day outside. I'd say anytime you go outside, check your whole body for your ticks. Jesse just graduated from Central. He knows from experience. He's been bitten by a few ticks, including one last summer. I pulled it right off me. Like, it it was in there. It wasn't just on my skin.

[00:00:55]That's happened a few times, but yeah, nothing really happened, but yeah, you got to watch out. The hope is you see the tick early on, but if it's been a day or two and you start to develop a bull's-eye rash, that's when doctors like Husnain Kermali at Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury will start to be concerned. Has the tick been on you for more than 24-48 hours? That's when our suspicion of transmission of disease gets higher. The CDC says emergency room visits for tick bites have reached their highest levels for this time of year since 2017. Dr. Kermali also recommends going to urgent care or your primary care physician. What we're seeing is more activity. So, the the the insects have more activity, the animals are out, and so what we're just seeing is more interaction with nature.

[00:01:42]And so, yeah, we're seeing a little bit more tick bites that we have in the past.

[00:01:47]And as a result, we're we're seeing a little bit more of these bull's-eyes develop.

[00:01:54]So, just under 500,000 people receive treatment for Lyme disease each year, Stephanie Neron, with 2 to 3,000 new cases reported in Connecticut annually.

[00:02:04]I'm your reporter live in Rocky Hill tonight, Dylan Fearon, Channel 3 Eyewitness News.