The Newyorker: The Tick That Hunts Down Its Hosts—Including Us

"The Tick That Hunts Down Its Hosts—Including Us" — The New Yorker, June 2026

A sweeping, deeply reported New Yorker feature on the lone star tick and the global spread of alpha-gal syndrome, using Martha's Vineyard as its central lens. Staff writer Burkhard Bilger traces the syndrome's discovery across two continents, follows Patrick Roden-Reynolds, Lea Hamner, and Virginia Barbatti as they strategize the island's deer reduction campaign, and travels to Missouri to document the devastating toll alpha-gal is taking on farming families and rural communities. The piece situates Martha's Vineyard not just as a wealthy enclave under siege, but as a testing ground for solutions the rest of the country will urgently need. Published in the July 6 & 13 print issue under the headline "The Great Infestation."

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Read the article here.