New York Faces STARI Mystery as Lone Star Tick Spreads North
In New York, doctors report an 8-year-old girl with a bull’s-eye rash who was diagnosed with STARI after a lone star tick bite. STARI’s cause remains unclear—potential infection with Borrelia lonestari or a tick bite hypersensitivity—and there are no specific tests; diagnosis relies on ruling out Lyme disease and identifying a lone star tick. As lone star ticks expand into the Northeast and Midwest, misdiagnosis could rise, highlighting the need for better diagnostics and tick species identification, along with preserving ticks for study.