My Husband Found an Unwelcome Visitor in Our Bed. It’s a Threat That’s Coming for All of Us.

Ticks aren’t completely new to town in New York City, I learned: They’ve shown up on surveys since at least the 1970s. Climate change and environmental disturbance have aided an increasing creep of the territories ticks inhabit—along with the viruses, bacteria, and pathogens they carry. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementTo date, Lyme disease is still by far the most commonly diagnosed, accounting for more than 80 percent of tick-related diseases, with 476,000 patients in the U.S. receiving treatment annually. After a complicated history, a Lyme vaccine is in the works, recently completing Phase 3 human trials. And although cats are decently immune to the effects of Lyme, they can be affected by other tick-related diseases.