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In many parts of the United States, this weekend marks the start of summer sleepaway camp season, which means swimming, arts and crafts, marshmallow roasts -- and, very often, ticks. Of the more than 1,600 overnight camps that are members of the American Camp Association, more than a third are in New England and the mid-Atlantic states, where Lyme disease is particularly prevalent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to a May CDC report, cases of vector-borne diseases -- those caused by viruses and bacteria carried by ticks, mosquitoes and other bugs -- tripled in the United States from...

With summer around the corner, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts are warning --- beware the bugs! A new report from the agency reveals that diseases transmitted through the bites of blood-feeding ticks, mosquitoes, and fleas are a "growing public health problem" in the United States. Reported cases of what are called vector-borne diseases have more than tripled nationwide, growing from 27,388 cases reported in 2004 to a whopping 96,075 cases reported in 2016, according to the new Vital Signs report published by the CDC on Tuesday. Vector-borne diseases are illnesses that are transmitted by vectors, or blood-feeding ticks and insects capable of transmitting...

THE THRILL OF TRAVELING is one of life's most exciting delights. But it can also have a downside. Some travelers, particularly those headed to remote or exotic foreign destinations, may end up dealing with an infectious disease during or after a trip. These illnesses can range from just a nuisance to life-threatening, so it's important to be prepared before you travel and know what to look for when you return to keep an infectious disease from ruining your travel buzz. Dr. Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention at the Johns Hopkins Health System in Baltimore, says the term infectious disease refers to...