Even the Rich Can’t Escape Cyclospora, Ticks, Heat Waves and Other Summer Scourges

Martha’s Vineyard, the Massachusetts island that is the preferred vacation destination of presidents, celebrities and financiers, has also become the summer home of the lone star tick. The tick’s bite can cause a strong allergy to red meat and dairy, a condition known as alpha-gal syndrome. In 2024, a 47-year-old pilot in New Jersey who collapsed after eating a hamburger became the first fatality linked to an alpha-gal food reaction. The ticks, historically a scourge of the Southeast, are causing dread as they spread across the country.

“People are really freaked out by it — it’s a topic of conversation all the time,” Alexandra Styron, a writer, said. “Every time you go to dinner, there’s a conversation about alpha-gal because the host has to figure out what to cook, and everybody’s dietary issues come into play.”

Things are not much better in the Hamptons: Flesh-eating bacteria have been found in Georgica Pond, where Jay-Z and Steven Spielberg spend summers, as well as in Sagaponack Pond and Mecox Bay, where Alan Alda and Jennifer Lopez own homes.

Ponds in the East End have also been afflicted with cyanobacteria, which can cause greenish scum, potentially harmful to both humans and animals, to form on the surface of water. (Meanwhile, the National Mall in Washington is struggling with a blue-green algae problem of its own.) The organisms thrive on nitrogen, which is present in the fertilizer that gives Hamptons lawns their signature deep green color. And as the Hamptons have also increasingly become a party destination, with large groups packing into rental houses, sewage has overwhelmed the septic systems, leaching nitrogen and phosphorus that further contribute to cyanobacteria growth.

“I’ve lived out on the East End for 27 years now,” said Christopher J. Gobler, a marine biologist at Stony Brook University and an expert in local waterways. “There’s just a lot more people, a lot more activity, and that is a contributing factor.”

Even staying home in New York City has become dangerous for some. On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, there has been an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease — a severe form of pneumonia — that has claimed the lives of five people and infected at least 85 others.