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(CNN) – In many parts of the United States, this weekend marks the beginning of the summer camp season, which means swimming, arts and crafts, marshmallow roasts and, very often, ticks.
Of the more than 1,600 night camps that are members of the American Camp Association, more than one-third are found in New England and the central Atlantic states, where Lyme disease is particularly prevalent. prevalent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to a May report by the CDC, cases of vector-borne diseases – caused by viruses and bacteria transmitted by ticks, mosquitoes and other insects – tripled in the United States between 2004 and 2016.
For years, experts have expressed concern that many local public health agencies are unprepared to control these pests and limit the spread of disease.
"I started to interest myself in it, and the numbers were up and showing no sign of stopping," said Lauren Rutkowski, who, along with her husband, Joel, is the owner of the Indian Head Camp for Kids in Equinunk, Pennsylvania. "As a mother and camp director, I was worried."
Every summer from 2010 to 2014, seven or eight campers confirmed or suspected tick bites at Indian Head, and every summer, three or four of these children were tested positive for Lyme disease, according to Rutkowski. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by infected tick bites, and if left untreated it can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system.
She said it's unclear whether the children contracted the disease because of the tick bite that they had at the camp or from a previous tick bite at home.
In 2014, his son, Oakley, was bitten by a tick at the family's camp, which hosts 650 children each summer. He did not contract Lyme disease.
The following year, Rutkowski hired a new service that helps fight ticks, including spraying the perimeter of the camp with pesticides and offering tips on how to get rid of habitats where ticks breed.
Since then, not a single camper is known to have been bitten by a tick, Rutkowski said.
Now, 123 camps are using the service, Ivy Oaks Analytics, according to Isaiah Ham, who started the business after one of his campers in the summer contracted Lyme disease because a tick bite.
Ham, then a student working as a counselor, said that he was not satisfied with the camp's response.
"The camp just shrugged and thought it was inevitable, like a hurricane, it was just a part of the outdoors," Ham remembers.
According to Sam Borek, president of the New York / New Jersey section of the American Camp Association, it is unclear how many kids are bitten by ticks in summer camps or how many camps use the services to reduce pests.
Camps do not exist in a vacuum, of course, and there are concerns that state public health departments are not doing enough to fight diseases caused by ticks, mosquitoes and mosquitoes. 39, other parasites.
"Mosquitoes, ticks, fleas can all carry very serious, life-threatening diseases," said Dr. Irwin Redlener, a Columbia University professor at Mailman School of Public Health.
A report from the National Association of County and City Health Officials indicates that 84% of mosquito disease control programs need to be improved. In? 18 states, each program is late.
These programs are often not well funded and are not equipped to provide adequate monitoring or prevention, Redlener said.
"We are simply not ready, and we should be," he said.
Redlener and other experts have criticized President Trump for ignoring climate change, part of the reason for the proliferation of parasites that carry diseases.
"We have to ask ourselves why the president and the administration [are] do not take this issue more seriously, "he said.
The White House declined to comment on climate change, referring questions to the CDC, which clearly states on its website that climate change is increasing the number and geographic extent of disease-carrying insects and ticks.
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The White House statement also said the president is taking these diseases seriously, asking for more than $ 49 million to fight them next year, an increase of $ 11 million over this year.
Back at the Indian Head camp, as campers arrive on Saturday, they are hoping for another summer without a tick bite.
"We are ready," said Rutkowski. "We can not wait to have them here."
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