Research led by UNC School of Medicine’s Ross Boyce, MD, MSc reveals 40% of blacklegged ticks in western North Carolina carry the bacteria that causes Lyme Disease.
A new UNC-led study published in the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report reveals that ticks in Buncombe County, North Carolina are carrying the bacteria that causes Lyme disease at rates comparable to that found in Northeastern states. The findings highlight the rapidly evolving risk of tickborne disease in the region.
The study “Southward expansion of pathogens in Ixodes scapularis ticks collected through a community-based partnership — Western North Carolina, November 2024–August 2025,” was conducted by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases, the University of South Carolina, and North Carolina State University in partnership with the town of Biltmore Forest. In early 2024, the town had established a task force to address resident concerns about the threat of ticks in the community. Following a local newspaper story in the Mountain Express, UNC School of Medicine Associate Professor Ross Boyce reached out to the town to see how his research team could help.
“This is one of the most compelling research projects I have conducted,” said Boyce. “We are essentially leveraging the tools of academia to tackle a public health problem, and critically, one that that the local community has told us is important. The ability to immediately link research to impact is why we do what we do.”
NBC News reporter Erika Edwards published an in depth story about Boyce’s research on August 13. Click on this link to read the story and watch a TV interview that aired on NBC News Now about the data published by the CDC.