Despite its name, people in New York and all over the country are at risk of tick-borne illnesses like Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Particularly widespread in the summer months when people camp, hike and engage in outdoor activities, they can be life-threatening for active individuals. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever has been reported all over North and South America. The potentially fatal disease is caused by a bacterium, Rickettsia rickettsia. Physicians report that there has been a slow increase in cases of the disease over the years.

According to a report released on June 15 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an increasing number of patients in New York and the rest of the United States who have confusing medical symptoms are being diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. They are also being prescribed dangerous, expensive and ineffective treatments. There have been cases in which patients have died from septic shock after being given the wrong, long-term treatment of intravenous antibiotics. For other patients, the misdiagnosis results in a dangerous delay of the treatment necessary to address the patient’s true underlying medical condition.

New York residents who have type 2 diabetes may be interested in a study that found that a new class of drugs, SGLT2 inhibitors, could raise the risk of a complication known as ketoacidosis. However, although the condition can be deadly, it is also rare, and experts say this should not deter people from taking the class of drugs. Researchers said only about 1 in 1,000 people using SGLT2 inhibitors would develop the condition.