CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Aug 24: 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 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, Dr. 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 Dr. Boyce, an Associate Professor of Medicine. “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.”
Designing the Study
Between November 2024 and August 2025, the research team performed monthly surveillance across 25 properties in the town of Biltmore Forest. In total, they collected 373 ticks; more than three-quarters of which were blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), the primary vector of Lyme disease in the eastern United States. Subsequent testing confirmed that nearly 40% of adult and nymphal ticks carried Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Testing also identified other bacteria including Borrelia miyamotoi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum in about 6% of collected ticks, both of which can cause serious illness. Notably, this is the farthest south these bacteria have been detected, which further adds to the risk to local residents and visitors.
Researchers say western North Carolina – and the area around Asheville in particular – may be at the forefront of the southward expansion of blacklegged ticks and the pathogens they carry. For comparison, the prevalence of Lyme disease bacteria identified in the Biltmore Forest ticks is similar to rates reported in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Upper Midwest, where Lyme disease is well established.
What This Means
The discovery has important implications for public health. Many healthcare providers in the region were taught that Lyme disease was uncommon. As the ecology of ticks and tickborne pathogens evolves, Boyce emphasizes the need to educate providers about Lyme disease – and now other tickborne infections – to mitigate any impacts on health.
“Lyme disease can be a life changing diagnosis, especially if not diagnosed and treated early,” Boyce says. “The pace at which we’ve gone from zero-to-sixty, essentially within a 10-year period, means that we are behind. We need a focused and dedicated response to what I would consider a regional epidemic.”
Boyce and his team are working with the town to develop a response plan that will include efforts to reduce tick populations and improve access to appropriate care. In addition, the team is working to expand surveillance efforts to some of the more rural counties outside of Asheville.
The study was led by co-first authors Sean Sweeney, MS (University of South Carolina) and Ayla Bullock, MPH (University of North Carolina) and co-senior authors Melissa S. Nolan, PhD (USC) and Ross Boyce, MD, MSc (UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases). Other investigators include Michael Reiskind, PhD (N.C. State University), and Angela Newnam and Jonathan Kanipe (Biltmore Forest LEADS Task Force), with the North Carolina Biltmore Forest Study Team.