Stony Brook University and its affiliated hospitals sit in an area geographically impacted by climate change and environmental risk factors that lead to inequities in health outcomes. We are positioned to investigate and delineate the impact of environmental risks on vulnerable populations, including climate changes with health implications affecting our coastal communities and tick or mosquito-borne illnesses.
Natural Disasters
The Long Island community has experienced many climate-related disasters, such as the landfall of Hurricane Sandy, the second most destructive in US history after Hurricane Katrina. Rising sea levels increase the chance of floods that affect water supply systems, health care delivery systems and evacuation routes, and can cause saltwater intrusion and spread of contaminants into soils and waterways. LINCATS will facilitate the emerging science of climate change induced health hazards by bringing together scientists from the geosciences, a major SBU strength, with clinical researchers.
Learn more about the ongoing climate-related research at Stony Brook University.
Consortium for Inter-Disciplinary Environmental Research (CIDER)
Governors Island Center for Climate Solutions
Stony Brook School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Department of Civil Engineering - Environmental Engineering
Tick-Borne Illness
Eastern Long Island has some of the highest rates of Lyme disease and Babesiosis in the country, along with presence of numerous other common and emerging tick-borne diseases.
The most common tick-born illnesses on Long Island are Lyme Disease, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, and Anaplasmosis.
This table of a 2018 survey of Ixodes scapularis ticks, also known as deer or black-legged ticks, collected from Suffolk County sites showed alarming rates of positivity for disease-causing agents. For example, of the 678 adult ticks collected across the spring and fall seasons, 57% carried Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme agent), 14% carried Anaplasmosis, and 14% Babesiosis. This is documented in the 2019 publication "Polymicrobial Nature of Tick-Borne Diseases" (Sanchez-Vicente, et. al) who writes:
"Tick-borne diseases have increased in prevalence in the United States and abroad. The reasons for these increases are multifactorial, but climate change is likely to be a major factor. One of the main features of the increase is the geographic expansion of tick vectors, notably Amblyomma americanum [Lone Star tick], which has brought new pathogens to new areas."
SBU has a long-standing record of tickborne disease research. In fact, the bacteria responsible for Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, was first isolated from Ixodes scapularis ticks that were collected by Stony Brook Distinguished University Professor Dr. Jorge Benach in Suffolk County (see Discovery of the Lyme Disease Agent, Barbour and Benach). We are studying new tests to diagnose Lyme disease, a Lyme disease vaccine, the effects of doxycycline for Lyme treatment in young children, the clinical significance of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever antibodies in children, and the tick types evaluated by the Stony Brook Hospital Lyme Lab over the past decade.
Our communities are enthusiastic about engaging in tick-borne disease research as ticks have become a daily nuisance with the potential to cause serious illnesses. SBU meets the need for this specialized medical care through our research, our Tick Borne Disease Referral Clinic in Commack and our Regional Tick-Borne Disease Resource Center in Southampton.