This article is a part of 12-piece series for The Times’ 2025 “Year in Review.” Click here for the print version.
It was the New York Times that said this summer on Martha’s Vineyard was the summer of the tick, not of the shark (i.e., “Jaws”) as most people predicted. But Islanders know that ticks didn’t just take over between June and August, and they didn’t just take over this year. No, Islanders have lived with and through the fear of ticks for what feels like forever.
The big news these days is the recent surge of alpha-gal syndrome, a relatively new but severe allergy to meat and dairy that can be developed from a lone star tick bite. Experts say the lone star ticks and the spectre of alpha-gal have exacerbated the crisis beyond the more familiar but equally dreaded tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease.
And it wasn’t just a problem on the Island. The country learned about alpha-gal when a national alarm sounded, after the death of a man in New Jersey became the first well-documented fatality in the U.S. following an alpha-gal-related allergic reaction to food.
There is a small but mighty team of experts that work on the issue of ticks and tick-borne illnesses, from public health officials Betsy VanLandingham and Lea Hamner to wildlife biologist Patrick Roden-Reyonds — but due to federal cuts, funding for their work and research was thrown into question this year. Recently, a local community member started a fundraiser for Hamner, who is contracted to work only eight hours a week for the Island, and as of mid-December, the GoFundMe has raised almost $25,000.
Not only did the hospital report an increase in tick-related visits to the emergency room this summer as well as a rise in both alpha-gal tests and positives, but new data collected from Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and public health officials indicated just how severe the tick crisis is on the Island, as well as how Dukes County stacks up against the rest of the state in terms of confirmed and probable cases of multiple tick-borne infections. To no one’s surprise, tick-borne infections occur here at a much higher rate than in the rest of the state.
But a new nonprofit was launched in December called Tick Free MV, bringing together tick experts, medical professionals, public health officials, and concerned Islanders to try to help the problem. The main goal is to target the abundant deer population, a frequent host for ticks, and reduce the prevalence of tick-borne conditions on the Island.
We also wrote about hunters on the Island, some of whom suffer from alpha-gal and can’t eat the venison they glean but are still part of an offensive to reduce the tick-carrying deer population. About a week after the launch of Tick Free MV, the first organization convening on the issue, state officials came to the Island for an information and coordination meeting regarding ticks and deer. The same day, the state announced the decision to expand the hunting season into February, as well as in September.
Other headlines:
Hospital reports rise in tick bites
Funding cuts endanger already limited tick research
A national alarm sounds on alpha-gal
Fundraiser for epidemiologist focused on ticks
Blame it on man made climate change: check
Blame it on DOGE and Trump: check
Mislead islanders into thinking we can hunt our way out for the problem: check
Now we just need a “Ticks Are Dangerous” bumper sticker to solve the tick problem like we solved the moped problem and we can all get back to milking the golden goose (wealthy tourists).
Hey fellow Vineyarders: We are going to need a bigger boat.
We are not even close to scratching the edge of this tick time bomb we are sitting on and talking it to death like we did the high school football field is just going to result in less summer visitors and more sick islanders. Wake up!
I love this comment. But I would change the bumper sticker to “Ticks Happen”.