Western New York continues to be a hot spot for ticks.
It may be late summer, and a change of seasons is coming, but when it comes to ticks and lyme disease, you can't let your guard down.
"Peak season is Summer, Fall and Spring," said Rebecca Roll, founder of Lyme WNY. "Sometimes it slows down in the Winter, but it's a year round problem because as soon as it goes above freezing, those little buggers are out again."
Roll said awareness continues to improve, but it's still a challenge.
"We had a booth at the Erie County Fair and every single person who came by stopped and said either they had a tick or had lyme disease."
Alpha-Gal syndrome, from the lone star tick, is receiving massive attention right now because emergency room visits for tick bites is an a near decade high, and cases of the severe red meat allergy are spreading rapidly into new regions of the country, including Martha's Vineyard.
Roll was asked if the Alpha-Gal tick, which causes a meat allergy, is in Western New York.
"We don't know. But ticks don't know borders. They can be picked up by a bird and land in Buffalo, New York. It's entirely possible. It needs to be on everybody's radar. Do you need to be paranoid? No, but you need to be aware."
One of the biggest challenges with lyme disease is diagnosing it. Symptoms can vary from flu like symptoms to vision loss, and joint pain. Sometimes there's a bullseye rash, but not always.
"It needs to be on everybody's radar. You need to be aware" - Rebecca Roll
"It needs to be on everybody's radar. You need to be aware" - Rebecca Roll
