Concerns Over Tick, Mosquito-Borne Diseases Rise After CDC Report

BOSTON (CBS) -- A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) report is raising concerns. From 2004-2016 the amount of tick, mosquito, and flea-transmitted diseases have tripled in the U.S.

Nearly 60% of the diseases detected came from ticks. Dr. David Crandell, clinical co-director for the Dean Center Tick-Borne Illness at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, says he's not surprised. Dr. Crandell believes an increase in Lyme disease diagnosis comes from better testing and more importantly, a better understanding of the disease and the signs.

He says symptoms include: Malaise, almost like a flu-like symptom, people using presenting fever, cardiac arrhythmia

Dr. Crandell says many people could have been bitten without ever seeing a tick on their body. He recommends wearing pants and long sleeve shirts when in wooded areas, Cover those clothes with a repellent called permethrin and when you come back in, check your body from head to toe.

The author of the study would not say if there is a link between climate change and the spread of disease. However, they did say globalization is playing a big part. As they put it, "disease is just a plane ride away."