918: Tick-Borne Diseases At All-Time High, PH Legislation Roundup

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Monday, June 2, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

LAURA HARRINGTON: 

The threat of tick-borne diseases is greater than ever before in most regions of the country.

SILVERS: 

Laura Harrington, with the Northeast Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, says tick-borne diseases are at an all-time high. According to Harrington, there could be hope on the horizon.

HARRINGTON: 

Lyme disease cases continue to be high, and we do have a vaccine that is in phase three testing and may come to the market soon. However, it's unclear how the vaccine will be perceived by the public, and the support for a vaccine in general is low right now.

SILVERS: 

Harrington says alerting the public to the high number of cases and convincing them of the vaccine safety can be a challenge.

HARRINGTON: 

And I think that we need to really focus more on developing messaging campaigns that are based in scientific research on the best practices for messaging. That's something that our center has been working on; helping vector control health departments across our region to improve their messaging program.

SILVERS: 

Harrington also says there has to be investment in new tools and strategies for prevention.

HARRINGTON: 

The other thing that you need to do is really to put more effort and resources into developing better ways for monitoring and controlling ticks. We're way behind mosquito control with ticks.

SILVERS: 

You can learn more about Harrington's organization by clicking the link in the show notes.

It has been a busy first half of 2025, for public health legislation in states across the country. ASTHO's Beth Giambrone recently wrote a blog article that summarizes it for ASTHO members.

BETH GIAMBRONE: 

I would say a lot of the legislation that we saw is around expanding access to PrEP and PEP, mainly around expanding access through healthcare and through Medicaid, so ensuring that health insurance and Medicaid cover PrEP and cover PEP.

SILVERS: 

Other important public health issues have also been gaining momentum, says Giambrone.

GIAMBRONE: 

We also saw legislatures expanding access to maternal mental health through health insurance and through Medicaid, specifically requiring that health insurance and Medicaid cover postpartum depression screenings for mothers. We also saw a lot around expansion for opioid antagonists.

SILVERS: 

Read the full report from ASTHO's government affairs team by clicking the link in the show notes.

Also, the first-ever national certification for disease intervention professionals is coming this year. The Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health and the National Board of Public Health Examiners have partnered to launch the Certified in Disease Intervention credential. You can find more information in the show notes.

Finally, today, submit your application for an upcoming ASTHO and Alzheimer's Association training program. Use the link in the show notes to complete an interest form for the Boundary Spanning Leadership Training focused on Alzheimer's and dementia care. The virtual training will take place June 16 and 17.

That'll do it for today. We're back tomorrow morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Janson Silvers. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great day.