In 1975, a cluster of children in Lyme, Connecticut, began showing unusual symptoms of arthritis. Health officials found the infections were linked to a bacteria transmitted through a bite from the blacklegged tick, also known as a deer tick.
The small parasite is native to the Northeast and still infects thousands of people every year with “Lyme disease,” which was named after the town.
On a brisk mid-April afternoon 50 years later, in that same town, a group of Connecticut scientists ventured out to the trails just beyond a neighborhood built into the woodlands.
Standing where the trail meets leaf litter and low-lying plants, Jamie Cantoni dragged an eye-catching device – a wooden dowel attached to a light-colored canvas cloth – along either side of the path.
“Some people will just pass by thinking, I'm trying to fly a kite,” Cantoni said. “More often than not, people will stop and say, ‘hey, like, what are you doing?’ or, ‘hey, are you sampling for ticks?’”
The answer to the second question is correct: Cantoni is a technician for the state’s Active Tick Surveillance Program, which is part of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. At this point in spring, the team is looking in spots where people (and their pets) could come in contact with ticks, to see how dense the population might be.
After about 10 seconds, Cantoni flips the drag over. There are two ticks on the cloth, one male and one female, she said, while carefully putting the apple seed-sized parasites into a small vial.
“Both could be positive for pathogens, but it's really only the red-backed female that we're concerned about possibly transmitting pathogens,” Cantoni said. “She's the one that typically feeds the longest.”
Where ticks survive and thrive
Whatever ticks they find will be tested at the lab for a variety of pathogens, like Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. The spot in Lyme is one of 40 spots across Connecticut that Cantoni, along with Jessica Brown, a postdoctoral scientist, and Natalie Bailey, an agricultural research technician, are sampling for adult ticks.
This program began in spring 2019, as part of a federal and state effort to do more to track ticks and tick-borne diseases. The goal is to figure out where tick populations are being established, how big those are, and where invasive species are showing up more.
In the first year of sampling, the team found lone star and longhorned ticks in two counties. Latest counts show those species have spread to four or five counties.
“And that tells us a story about, like, OK, we're seeing more of them. Where are they surviving?” Megan Linske, who oversees the research, said. “Are they only surviving on the coast, or are they moving inland?”
Over time, Linske said they are seeing tick populations and tick-borne diseases increasing substantially.
“Not just just in Connecticut, but [in] the Northeast as well as the entire United States,” she said. “Not only is it increasing its density in places like Connecticut, where they were previously existing, but it's also increasing their distribution pretty substantially.”
On average, 50-60% of adult ticks are infected with Borrelia, Linske said. The longer it’s attached the more likely it is to transmit an infection.
Deer ticks can also transmit pathogens that cause other conditions like anaplasmosis, a disease that typically yields symptoms about one to two weeks after a bite.
Backyards a ‘perfect storm’ for ticks
In coastal Connecticut towns, like Lyme, a temperate climate and humidity, along with the presence of Japanese barberry – an invasive, dense, leafy plant about 2 to 3 feet tall – create the perfect habitat for these bloodsuckers.
“We're showing prime tick habitat,” Linske said, gesturing to the nearby woods. “And then all these houses are built right into the woodlands. So in your backyard, you're in a tick habitat. And it kind of creates this perfect storm of high tick encounter risk for these people.”
But a lot has changed since Lyme was detected in the 1970s. Human settlement in forested areas is one reason ticks have become more of a public health risk. Climate change is another.
The continued burning of fossil fuels has been the main driver of the planet’s long-term atmospheric warming, and 2024 was the world’s hottest year on record. Climate change not only affects precipitation intensity, extreme heat, and air quality in Connecticut and beyond, but the ecosystem as a whole.
It’s the most troublesome factor when it comes to ticks, Linske said.
Temperatures in New England are rising faster than the U.S. average. While temperature spikes are more noticeable in the summer, long-term data shows those increases are happening most in the winter season.
That means more of the native tick species are surviving the winters, increasing their densities overall, Linske said, especially for the nymphs, which are harder to see and pose more of an infection risk.
Invasive tick species are also a growing concern. For example, there have been cases in the state of longhorned ticks biting humans in the state, Linske said, when that species targets livestock and wildlife. An overwhelming number of lone star ticks have also been found in places like Norwalk in the past.
“It's a new behavior in a new area, or just availability of hosts,” Linske said. “Because when you have a new species in a new habitat or a new population structure, they're going to change their behavior to adapt and survive in that area.”
An uncertain future for research
The state-run monitoring comes at a crucial time. The Trump administration has worked to slash federal funding for research nationwide, and is pushing to roll back policies and projects to fight climate change and protect public health.
The upheaval has created a lot of uncertainty for many scientists.
“Where's humanity going to go from here, if we don't have science…what do we have?” Cantoni said. “If we don't have the data, then what do we have? If we don't have knowledge, then what do we have? We have regression.”
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) is primarily covered by state funds, bringing some security for the research work they do. But funding for the tick program from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was eliminated in 2024.
So for the first time, CAES requested state funds to help its tick surveillance program.
This legislative session, both the governor and the Appropriations Committee have recommended in their budgets that CAES get an additional $95,000 annually for the tick surveillance program in fiscal year 2026 and 2027.
If approved, that is still a shortfall of about $155,000 from what was originally requested from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention contract, said Philip Armstrong, the CAES entomology department head. They will “tighten their belts” and tap other resources at the agency to pay for transportation to field sites, materials and supplies, he added.
Soon, the tiny tick nymphs will be out: they emerge in late spring and early summer. Come fall, the adults will have another questing season.
For Linske, the day's trek into Lyme, Connecticut, is just one small piece of the larger picture the Active Tick Surveillance Program seeks to capture this year.
But they need that long-term information to choose the best path forward.
“The thing is, even with all of our management strategies, ticks aren't going anywhere,” Linske said. “I can't foresee a future where we can completely eliminate them.”
Protect yourself
Linske said she doesn't want to dissuade people from going outside, but urged taking protective steps to reduce the risk of a tick encounter while in the woods or backyard:
- Avoid a tick bite: Walk in the middle of a trail. Ticks like to hang out on low-lying plants where the trail or grass meets the woods.
- Dress properly: Wear light-colored clothing, tuck your pants into your socks or wear gaiters, and treat your clothing with permethrin (a repellent) if needed.
- Do a post-adventure tick check: scan your skin and hairline when you come inside. If you do find a tick, remove it with tweezers. If it looks like the tick has been attached for a few days, contact your doctor.
- If you do get a bite: monitor how you’re feeling, and if you experience symptoms like fever, headache, muscle and joint aches or fatigue, see a doctor.
