Ticks surge in the Northeast

It's prime tick season, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. The prevalence of ticks is changing the way some people in highly affected areas live their lives. AILSA CHANG, HOST: The month of June is unfortunately primetime for ticks, and the ticks started biting a few weeks earlier this year. That's according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Here's Alison Hinckley of the CDC. ALISON HINCKLEY: We are seeing about the third highest rate that we've seen in the past 10 years right now, overall. In the Midwest, it's the highest rate we've seen in the past 10 years, so it's an important time to watch out for tick bites. CHANG: Eek (ph). Hinckley says that almost all Lyme disease cases come from the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest. And some of those places are dealing with another tick threat, alpha-gal syndrome. That's an allergic reaction to red meat triggered by a tick bite. NPR's Pien Huang has this story. PIEN HUANG, BYLINE: In 2020, pandemic times, Virginia Barbatti moved her family to Martha's Vineyard. It's an idyllic beach island off the coast of Massachusetts, a summer retreat for presidents from Ulysses S. Grant to Barack Obama. In the evenings at dinnertime, deer roamed their yard. VIRGINIA BARBATTI: That was really exciting for us when we first moved here. It felt like, OK, we're connecting with nature and the outdoors, and it felt really special. HUANG: Fast-forward a few years, Barbatti's feelings have changed. …