The lone star tick, notorious for spreading disease and causing a red meat allergy called alpha-gal syndrome, has long plagued the eastern United States.

Now, UC Davis researchers warn it may be edging closer to establishing itself in California.

Their study uncovered seventy-six lone star ticks reported across the state, including recent finds in the Bay Area and San Clemente. While field teams in 2024 and 2025 didn’t recover any during surveillance, climate models show coastal California offers prime conditions for the species.

Experts say the tick isn’t officially established yet, but the risk is real. With climate change and increased movement of animals and people, scientists caution that Californians should stay vigilant, check for ticks after outdoor activities, and report unusual sightings.

Click here to read the study in the journal Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases.

Melinda

Reference:

https://www.lymedisease.org/lone-star-ticks-california/

Ten years ago, singer-songwriter Jesse Ruben was desperately ill with Lyme disease—wracked with pain, clouded by brain fog, and battling depression. In the midst of all that, he discovered that if he stayed up well past midnight, the fog would lift somewhat.

“So I’d keep myself up till 6, 7, 8 in the morning,” he recalls, “because it was the only time I had a cognitive thought.”

One morning in 2015, during one of those more lucid hours, he sang the beginning of a new song into his cell phone—and promptly forgot about it. Years later, he stumbled upon the audio file and decided to finish what he had started.

The result is Monster, a raw and powerful song that captures the pain, frustration, and mental anguish that so many Lyme patients know all too well:

“There’s something wrong here, doctor, and I don’t know what it is… 

But there’s a monster in my body and it’s living in my limbs… 

And it’s tearing through my system like a hurricane wind that won’t stop…”

First “We Can” and then he couldn’t

Before he became ill, Ruben was a rising star in the music world, with a popular song called “We Can.” It was a feel-good, upbeat tune that he wrote after running his very first marathon.

Then everything changed.

It started with flu-like symptoms that wouldn’t go away, followed by dizziness and nausea.

Doctors ran tests and told him everything looked fine. But Jesse knew something wasn’t right. He struggled to breathe and couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs. The brain fog got so bad he’d forget the lyrics to his own songs—music he’d poured his heart into.

He saw more than ten doctors. Each gave him a different answer: vitamin D deficiency, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome. None of it fit.

Eventually, Jesse found a doctor who properly diagnosed and treated him for Lyme disease, and he began to heal. He returned to music with renewed purpose—and his single This Is Why I Need You struck a chord around the world. It’s now been streamed over 70 million times across various platforms, a testament to how deeply his message resonates.

Alongside his musical comeback, Jesse became a passionate advocate for others facing Lyme disease. He co-founded Generation Lyme, a nonprofit created to combat the isolation and confusion that so many people with Lyme disease experience.

The organization hosts free Zoom gatherings for patients, parents, and supporters and also offers the Generation Lyme podcast.

And now, Jesse has finally released Monster, the song he rasped into his cell phone so long ago. Take a listen:

Monster drops as a single today and is also featured on Jesse’s new album Belong, set for release on October 10. The ten-song collection explores themes of mental health, chronic illness, long-term relationships, and the essential role of community in helping us heal and thrive.

Jesse Ruben’s journey—from misdiagnosis and despair to healing and advocacy—is a powerful reminder of what it means to keep going.

With Monster and Belong, he’s not just sharing music—he’s sharing what it feels like to fight for your health, your voice, and your place in the world. These songs speak to anyone who’s ever felt lost in their own body, and they offer something we all need: the feeling of being seen, heard, and believed.

Melinda

Reference:

https://www.lymedisease.org/jesse-rubens-monster/

From the University of North Carolina at Greensboro:

North Carolina is experiencing a surge in Lyme disease cases, and a new surveillance study from UNC Greensboro (UNCG) reveals that the primary vector of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis), has been spreading into areas previously considered low risk.

“Currently, 16 states, mostly in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest, account for 95% of the reported LD cases,” says Dr. Gideon Wasserberg, a biology professor at UNCG and one of the research project leaders.

“However, low-incidence states to the south and west, including North Carolina, have experienced an increase in the number of reported Lyme disease cases since the early 2010s.”

With funding from Centers for Disease Control, administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, researchers from UNCG, North Carolina State University, and Appalachian State University conducted a five-year, statewide survey of blacklegged ticks and the pathogens they often carry.

Dramatic increase in density

“Our data shows a range expansion of these ticks into more counties in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the western Piedmont region and a dramatic increase in their densities in this area as a whole,” said Wasserberg. “These findings are consistent with increasing reports of human Lyme disease cases in these areas.”

Eastern Piedmont and the Coastal Plain, where blacklegged ticks and human Lyme disease cases have been historically noted, saw little change in tick density in comparison.

In the new study, ticks from the Blue Ridge Mountains were also more likely to carry Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria responsible for most cases of Lyme disease, compared to ticks from the Piedmont and Coastal Plain.

“Our analyses indicate that these ticks and the bacteria they carry moved into the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina from southwestern Virginia over the last 10 years, travelling along the Appalachian Mountains,” says Wasserberg.

The researchers say the findings have important implications for public health.

“Enhanced surveillance, increased public awareness, and updated guidance for healthcare providers are crucial to mitigate risk.” said Dr. Reuben Garshong, the lead author of the newly published article in PLOS One. Now a research scientist at the New Jersey Department of Health, Garshong participated in much of the study as a doctoral student in Wasserberg’s lab at UNCG.

Melinda

Reference:

https://www.lymedisease.org/tick-study-north-carolina/

Pleasure Beach, a popular summer destination in Bridgeport, Connecticut, will remain closed for the entire 2025 season due to a serious tick infestation.

City officials, in consultation with state environmental and public health experts, made the call after discovering multiple tick species on the island, including the Asian longhorned tick—an invasive species that poses unique risks.

Unlike native ticks, this species can reproduce asexually, allowing a single female to spawn a full-blown infestation. Even more concerning, it can potentially carry serious pathogens.

While disappointing for beachgoers, the closure may benefit the island’s fragile ecosystem. Pleasure Beach is a critical nesting site for protected Audubon bird species, including the endangered piping plover.

With reduced human activity, conservationists expect a boost in nesting success and habitat restoration.

Bridgeport officials plan to conduct treatment and containment efforts throughout the summer, with the goal of reopening the beach in 2026.

Melinda

SOURCE: City of Bridgeport, CT

Emergency rooms nationwide are reporting a record-breaking increase in tick bite cases, according to new CDC data.

July 2025 is already surpassing previous highs set in 2017.

Director of the University of Rhode Island’s Center for Vector-Borne Disease and its TickEncounter Resource Center, Dr. Thomas Mather, and Dr. Tom Daniels joined the Morning Joe to discuss.

They say Lyme disease is still the top concern when it comes to tick bites, but note that ticks can transmit other pathogens as well.

With ticks being so plentiful right now, they say it’s likely that more people will end up getting sick from tick-borne infections.

Watch their interview here:

Melinda

Referrence:

https://www.lymedisease.org/er-visits-for-tick-bites/

Before my diagnosis of Lyme Disease, I would have looked at this graphic and paid no attention. After 18 months of IV Antibiotic Therapy, experiencing unbelievable pain, and cognitive dysfunction. I would be the poster child for the graphic. Lyme Disease kills and it can take you down slowly. I’m blessed to be in remission.

Testing is inaccurate because doctors have The Western Block test, which tests for several strains of Lyme, but only use one or two of the tests available. Interestingly enough all of my tests for Lyme came back negative until years after I’d been in remission.

When you read about Lyme you will hear about the Bulls-eye rash, yes some people do have a round puffy rash emerge but it’s only about 30% of the time. Don’t be bullied into thinking no rash, no Lyme. BS. I did not get the rash and I’m not sure where I picked up a tick.

If you catch Lyme early a 2-4 week treatment of antibiotics will kill the virus. If not caught early, the Spirochetes make their way into your blood-stream looking for an organ to play host. At this point, you’ve entered the Chronic Lyme stage. Your journey will be the fight of your life.

The CDC does not ackowledge Chronic Lyme exisist which means medical insurance companies will not pay for your doctor visits, IV Therapy and many of the other drugs you need. Some of my prescrptions were covered but not any of the suppliments recommened.

When choosing a doctor, look for a Lyme Literate Doctor or an Infectious Disease Doctor. If you run into problems finding the right doctor, visit the ILADS website and request a referral. They are tight with the information because many of the doctors are being targeted for treating Chronic Lyme.

You and your family do not have to go down the rabbit hole. If you firmly believe you or a loved one may have Lyme go directly to one of the most comprehensive lab testing companies, IGenex. It’s worth every penny spent because my treatments cost over $150,000 and caused us to take a second mortgage.

Be Lyme and Tick-Borne Illness aware. Your health depends on it.

Melinda

Looking for the Light

Reference:

www.lymedisease.org

By Lowell Miller

I became a host for Borrelia burgdorferi (the microbe at the root of Lyme disease), at a time when no one knew what it was. This was over 40 years ago, in 1982, only a few years after Lyme disease was discovered.

It would be decades before the telltale symptoms of unseasonal fevers, bull’s-eye rashes, faux-arthritis, and inexplicable neurological symptoms would become more known to people and doctors living in Lyme-endemic areas.

So, I was initially untreated, giving the Lyme bacteria decades to slowly and quietly populate my body, generating few symptoms or warnings along the way.

A devious bug that evades the immune system

As we now know, Borrelia burgdorferi is a devious bug with unique abilities to evade the immune system and keep itself alive. I was healthy, athletic, and active in the world, apparently achieving a kind of multi-year balance, or truce, between the slowly and inexorably growing bacteria and my body’s natural ability to ward it off.

Meantime, Lyme silently and slowly took over, embedding itself—undetected—in my brain.

It was held at bay for most of the first two decades, but that couldn’t go on indefinitely. After a period of intense business stress, I was hit with overt and acute symptoms, as if a storm had blown into my body. Apparently, the microbes had selected my central nervous system as a cozy home, rather than the joint soft tissues that affect so many patients.

Over the next few years, I wrestled with peripheral neuropathy (sirens of pain in my feet), skin and scalp inflammation (what’s going on inside blooms on the surface), Bell’s palsy (complete with an eye patch to hide the purulent discharge), chills and buzzing throughout the body, brain fog, brain dysfunction, deep fatigue, “air hunger,” dizziness and an incipient loss of balance.

This finally crescendoed into a “cryptogenic” stroke [of unknown origin], complete with a week in hospital. It was apparently caused by a weakened small blood vessel that had been undermined by Lyme.

Ok, yes, that’s a typical litany of symptoms for post-treatment (or no-treatment) Lyme disease. As my case rolled out over a second 20 years following the first 20 years of near-dormancy, I became an inadvertent observer and participant in what one might think of as “Lymeworld.”

As a somewhat over-educated guy committed to the world of rationality and science, I began a quest for health in the allopathic or mainstream medicine side of Lymeworld.

Many docs “don’t believe” in Lyme

But as anyone familiar with Lyme knows, the involvement of conventional medical science with Lyme is a heartbreaker. Even today, many doctors don’t “believe” in Lyme (as if it were a mystic religion rather than biological fauna). They wouldn’t know even a fresh case if it bit them on the butt and left a bull’s-eye!

My first internist in my Lyme-endemic geographical area literally fired me as a patient when I tried to convince him to consider Lyme as a possible cause of my painful burning feet.

I went from doctor to doctor, specialist to specialist. I even went to one of the drafters of the Infectious Disease Society of America’s guidelines for Lyme treatment. In a single visit, he dismissed my case as no longer active, though many symptoms were still to come.

I stuck with allopathic doctors, in my heart of hearts believing that after 50 years they would soon have a cure for this bacterial disease, as medicine had cured so many other bacterial conditions.

After getting a high positive count on the Western blot test for Borrelia in my cerebral spinal fluid—not a good thing—I got hooked up with a 30-day intravenous infusion of ceftriaxone. When that finally provided only the most minimal symptom relief, the infectious disease specialist told me: “There’s nothing more we can do for you.”

Those are hard words to hear when you think you’re dying.

But I refused to accept that there was nothing more to do. I became my own advocate and researcher, a path everyone with long-term Lyme must follow—because there is so little help from others.

I’d lost a lot of mental functioning but mercifully could still do online medical research. Being retired, I had the time to turn over every stone.

Devising my own protocol

Eventually, with myself as test subject, I created a multi-pronged protocol based on in vitro studies that indeed began to work, one that grew from a foundation of credible laboratory science (if not quite yet proven in the clinic).

Many of the strange-sounding botanicals I used are in fact the basis of pharmaceuticals, and not toxic or dangerous. Their action is slower because they work to support the body’s own immunity, and they don’t have noticeable side effects. But their efficacy is clear.

I have put my experience into a book called Lyme with a Twist: A Path to Triumph Over Chronic Infection. It recounts my story and what I did to get better.  (My healing is the “twist.”)

I hope it can help people afflicted with Lyme and their loved ones escape the loneliness that Lyme can induce. It takes persistence, discipline, time, and tenacity to recover from a Borrelia infection, and it’s worth the effort. My life has taken a dramatic turn for the better, finally the days are bright again. A message for Lyme sufferers: you can overcome this, you really can.

Lowell Miller is a writer, businessman, and artist living in the Hudson Valley, New York. Click here to learn more about Lyme with a Twist: A Path to Triumph Over Chronic Infection.

Melinda