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Beyond Lyme: Other tick-borne diseases Mass. health officials want you to look out for

A deer tick is viewed under a microscope in the entomology lab at the University of Rhode Island. (Victoria Arocho/AP)
A deer tick is viewed under a microscope in the entomology lab at the University of Rhode Island. (Victoria Arocho/AP)

Editor's Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here


The inimitable Jennifer Coolidge gave Emerson College’s commencement speech on Sunday, and passed along a few words of wisdom to start off your week: “Friggin’ go for it!"

Now, let's get to the news:

PSA: May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. And while most people are familiar with Lyme disease, it's not the only tick-borne illness that can get you sick. Health officials warn ticks can also spread five other diseases to humans. "It's really important for us to talk about tick-borne disease in general in Massachusetts, because we have a lot of deer ticks," Dr. Catherine Brown, the state epidemiologist for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, told WBUR's Rachell Sanchez-Smith.

  • What to know: Deer ticks — also called black-legged ticks — can carry Lyme, as well as babesiosis, powassan virus, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis and Borrelia miyamotoi bacteria (which can lead to hard tick relapsing fever). And while this year's cold winter and last year's drought might lead to fewer ticks in the grass this summer, Brown expects "thousands of cases of Lyme disease and associated emergency department visits."
  • Climate change is also pushing certain tick species, like the lone star tick, farther north into New England. "And they may bring a whole new set of problems," said Brown. A bite from the lone star tick, for example, can trigger an allergy to red meat in some people. This species has already been spotted around southern Massachusetts, Brown added.
  • The big takeaway:  "I'm not saying avoid being out outside and doing things that you love," Brown said. She just advises taking precautions to protect yourself and your pets against tick-borne illness.

In case you missed it: Rumeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University doctoral student who was taken by plainclothes immigration officers in Somerville back in March, has been released after over six weeks in an ICE detention center in Louisiana. Öztürk arrived at Logan Airport Saturday night, one day after a federal judge in Vermont ordered her release. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Sen. Ed Markey and the media were there to meet her. During a press conference, Öztürk expressed her confidence in the American justice system, and reminded others not to "forget about all these wonderful women in the immigration detention system." She's due back in federal court in Vermont later this month.

  • Two other locals detained by ICE were also ordered to be released this past week. Juan Francisco Méndez, a 29-year-old Guatemalan man from New Bedford with no Massachusetts criminal record, was ordered to be released from detention after immigration officials failed to file the necessary paperwork to charge him. Fabian Schmidt, a green card holder detained at Logan Airport for a 2015 misdemeanor drug charge, returned home Thursday night after two months detained.
  • This weekend: Hundreds of people turned out for a protest at Worcester City Hall on Mother’s Day, following Thursday's ICE arrest of a Brazilian woman on Eureka Street. “It’s not just that people are executing on warrants, it’s that they’re acting almost extra-judicially,” said Jill Zumbach, a Natick resident with the 50501 Movement that organized the protest. “They won’t provide information about where people are being taken. This is a concern for all of us."
  • Go deeper: Greater Boston is seeing a "surge" in immigration enforcement, WBUR's Simón Rios reports. Recent forceful arrests in Newton and Worcester drew concerned neighbors to the streets; and volunteers with the LUCE Immigrant Justice Network emergency hotline say their lines are exceptionally busy.

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End of an era: Local grocery chain Daily Table is closing its doors. On Friday, the nonprofit — which sought to deliver affordable, nutritious food to local communities — announced it would close all four locations by May 12. The store first opened in Dorchester 10 years ago, and had spread to Cambridge, Salem and Roxbury.

  • Daily Table's board of directors said in a press release that the business had been struggling since the COVID-19 pandemic, and that historically high food prices and the "uncertain and difficult funding environment" amid federal cuts to hunger relief programs ultimately lead to the decision to close.

P.S. — Massachusetts is revamping its effort to change the state emblem (after the last one apparently flopped). The Massachusetts Seal, Flag and Motto Advisory Commission is seeking new designs that depict nature-based symbols native to the state. Interested artists should submit their ideas by June 18.

Related:

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Hanna Ali Associate Producer

Hanna Ali is an associate producer for newsletters at WBUR.

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