A tiny bug poses a serious health risk in many states right now. Emergency room visits for tick bites have increased dramatically this year. The culprit is a crawling insect that's active in warm, humid areas and feeds on the blood of birds and mammals, particularly deer. They spread bacteria, viruses and parasites that cause human diseases – particularly Lyme disease and a rarer one called alpha-gal syndrome, which mostly affects adults.

Symptoms of both illnesses include fever, rash, headache, fatigue and muscle aches. People with Lyme disease, spready by blacklegged ticks, may also have joint pain in fingers, elbows or knees. Lyme is most common in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic region and upper Midwest states. Nearly half a million victims are treated each year. Alpha-gal patients, bitten by lone star ticks, can have stomach pain and a severe allergic reaction after eating red meat -- sometimes making it hard to breathe.

In all U.S. regions except south-central states, emergency room visits for tick bites are the highest since 2017. Climate change plays a role, as does development near woodlands, farms and prairies that brings us into closer contact with ticks. As average temperatures get warmer, ticks thrive and are spreading to new areas. They survive winters in larger numbers and stay active for more of the year.

We're all at risk, since some ticks are in backyards and parks, as well as forests and grassy fields. As precautions, use insecticide, tuck pants into long socks, wear long sleeves and choose light-color clothes so ticks are easier to spot. After being outside, check your garments, body and any pets who came along. Take a shower. If you find a tick attached to your skin, use tweezers to pull it out. Wash the area with soap and water. "The sooner you remove an embedded tick, the lower the chance that it can make you sick," advises Dr. Cosby Stone of Vanderbilt Health in Nashville, Tenn.

Doctor says: "Good old-fashioned preventative measures really are the best." – Dr. Bobbi Pritt of the Mayor Clinic in Minneapolis

Researcher says: "There is a clear winner in the ongoing contest between humans and ticks. And it is not us." -- Lars Eisen, an insect researcher at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Fort Collins, Colo.

Lyme disease name origin: Yale University researchers in 1975-76 studied a cluster of severe juvenile arthritis cases in Connecticut, which they linked to deer ticks. They named the disease after Lyme and Old Lymn, two shoreline towns involved -- though evidence shows the bacteria existed in North America and Europe long before that 1970s outbreak.>