The 2026 tick season is far from over, but in the U.S., there's already been about a 25-percent increase in emergency room visits for tick bites since April last year.

So far this month, the data show that 85 out of every 100,000 emergency room visits are tick-related.

"Ticks are definitely booming right now," said Thomas Hart with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Hart says the rise in tick bites can be traced to changes in climate and land use, allowing ticks to spread and come into contact with a greater number of people.

By far, the most common tick-borne illness is Lyme disease, a bacterial infection transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected tick.

Recent CDC estimates suggest about 476,000 people may be diagnosed and treated for this illness in the U.S. every year.

"There used to be a Lyme disease vaccine called Lymerix in the late 90s and early 2000s," said Hart. "This was eventually pulled off the market due to low sales."

But with rising Lyme disease cases, Hart says a similar vaccine is in its final round of clinical trials before it heads to the FDA for potential approval.

He says it's also important to prevent tick bites from even happening.

"As somebody who works with Lyme disease, I definitely don't want to get Lyme disease," said Hart. "So if you see me out there, I have my pants tucked into my socks and my light-colored clothing. I'm using DEET, I'm showering as soon as I get inside to wash off any ticks that might have caught a ride."