As tick bites surge, conspiracy theories follow

“I’m tired of finding dead moose,” Drew Maciel told his Instagram followers in April. He panned the camera over a deceased bull moose, highlighting clusters of ticks embedded in every crevice of the animal.

Maciel, a shed hunter who collects antlers naturally shed by wildlife, has encountered more dead animals this year because of a winter tick infestation in Maine, exacerbated by rising temperatures. Scientists have tracked that up to 90 percent of moose calves in recent years have succumbed to ticks, creating a crisis in a state known for valuing these large deer species.

While scientists attribute the problem to climate change, noting a 3-degree Fahrenheit rise in Maine’s average temperatures since 1985, some online commenters see a global conspiracy at play.

On Maciel’s video, a comment by Dries Van Langenhove, a far-right ex-member of the Belgian government recently convicted for Holocaust denial, suggested “human engineered biological warfare.” This comment garnered 32,000 likes. Another user pointed fingers at “Bill Gates.”

Chuck Lubelczyk, a vector-borne ecologist with Maine Medical Center, collects ticks at a site in Cape Elizabeth. John Ewing / Portland Press Herald / Getty Images

These comments are part of a wave of tick-related conspiracy theories that have gained millions of views online. In April, a self-styled holistic doctor on Instagram claimed that farmers in the Midwest were finding boxes of ticks on their land. Her video, claiming “something is happening with ticks,” amassed 10 million views across social media platforms. The MAHA Moms Coalition, influenced by the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, shared the claim, urging affected farmers to come forward.

This theory traces back to 2023, with viral claims that pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Valneva, developing a Lyme disease vaccine, were distributing boxes of ticks on farms to boost demand for their product.

Another theory, which gained traction around the same time, suggested a British research program to genetically modify cattle ticks, partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was linked to increasing cases of red meat allergies in the U.S. However, the allergy, known as Alpha-gal syndrome, is caused by the bite of a Lone Star tick, a different species than the cattle ticks in the research.

These conspiracies, despite involving different ticks, diseases, and alleged culprits, are often seen as evidence of a larger human conspiracy.

While these theories circulate, they are correct about one thing: tick problems are worsening. The ecological changes fueling Maine’s tick surge are also increasing tick encounters across the U.S. Ticks are appearing earlier, spreading into new areas, and biting more often. However, the real driver is climate change, not a secret bioweapons plot or vaccine scheme.

A screenshot of an Instagram post furthering the unproven claim that Midwestern farmers are finding boxes of ticks left behind on their properties. Instagram

Richard Ostfeld, an ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, noted that warmer weather is causing ticks to emerge earlier in areas like New York, where he resides. “It used to be we were pretty safe in the month of May,” he remarked. “Now, not so much.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported an unusually early start to tick season across most of the U.S. this year. Emergency room visits for tick bites in four of the five regions the CDC monitors are at their highest for this time of year since 2017.

Although the CDC hasn’t identified the cause of the increase in bites this spring, factors like snow cover insulating ticks from winter cold and an early spring bloom are likely contributors. Rising average temperatures lead to greater tick exposure as ticks move into previously too-cold areas and remain active longer each year.

More tick bites create more opportunities for infections, with the list of diseases of concern growing. Positive tests for alpha-gal syndrome, which causes a red meat allergy, have increased 100-fold since 2013, affecting nearly half a million people in the U.S. Anaplasmosis cases, carried by black-legged ticks, have increased 16-fold since 2000, and babesiosis, a malaria-like illness also carried by these ticks, has risen about 10 percent annually since 2015. It’s now common for a single tick to carry multiple diseases.

Ecologists studying ticks recognize a mix of factors driving these increases. Changes in land use and wildlife are increasing human-tick contact. Invasive and expanding tick species bring new disease risks, while improved testing and reporting make tick-borne illnesses more visible. However, the scientific community agrees these trends are unfolding against the backdrop of climate change.

Ostfeld expressed concern that the complexity of tick-borne disease factors, combined with the allure of online conspiracies, might make it challenging for people to understand why some parts of the country are becoming more dangerous. “The more I read about people actually believing some of these conspiracy theories, the more I worry that even moderately complex explanations or phenomena we care about — like how likely we are to get bitten by a tick — might be too much,” he said.

Scientists collect Lone Star ticks, which can cause an allergic reaction to red meat, for research. Ben McCanna / Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Conspiracies about ticks have also been given credibility by federal officials. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of Health and Human Services, has suggested that Lyme disease, which now affects an estimated half a million Americans annually, originated as a military bioweapon from vaccine research. This contradicts genomic evidence showing the bacteria causing Lyme has existed in North America for at least 60,000 years.

Both Kennedy and Tucker Carlson, a leading Republican-aligned media figure, have hosted writer Kris Newby on their podcasts, where Newby espoused debunked claims about Lyme’s military origins.

The notion that Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses were created by a U.S. military bioweapons program is so widespread that a formal initiative to investigate this origin has been introduced twice in the House of Representatives. Chris Smith, a Republican representative from New Jersey, led these efforts and succeeded on his second attempt. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, signed by President Donald Trump last December, mandates the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate whether the military used ticks as biological warfare agents in the 20th century.

“GAO will be fully empowered to leave no stone unturned, and now it’ll have a congressional mandate to get to the bottom of it, because they were weaponizing ticks,” Smith said during a Lyme disease roundtable convened by Secretary Kennedy last year.

However, away from the congressional discussions and viral videos, the narrative starts to unravel. In the Midwest, where millions have heard claims of ticks being dropped on farms, evidence of such acts is scant. Terry Hoerbert and her husband Bob, who run Little Brown Cow Dairy in Delavan, Illinois, noted that their farm’s short lane would have revealed anyone depositing tick packages. When asked if they knew of other farms receiving live tick packages, Terry said, “We have not. You are the first to enlighten us.”