ISTOCK, ANDRIANO_CZOver a little more than a decade, diseases from mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas have tripled in the U.S.—from about 27,000 cases in 2004 to more than 96,000 in 2016. That’s according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published today (May 1). Scientists cite warmer weather as the driving force behind the increase.
“It enables these ticks to expand to new areas. Where there are ticks, there comes diseases,” Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, tells Reuters. Neither Petersen nor the report say whether the data reflect the effects of climate change or global warming, The New York Times reports.
Although the incidence of vector-borne diseases rose steadily since 2004, 2016 experienced a huge spike in mosquito-borne disease compared to previous years because of the appearance of Zika, with 41,680 cases alone that year.
Tickborne illnesses went from around 22,000 in 2004 to more than 48,000 in 2016. Lyme disease is the most common sickness transmitted by ticks, accounting for more than 36,000 tickborne diseases in 2016.
These numbers likely far underestimate the true ...
