Lyme disease cases rising

"The number of ticks is so much more than we've seen in the past," Arias said. "It could be the humidity; it could be the moisture; it could be some biological factor out there."

A number of states are reporting another increase in the number of new cases of Lyme disease. For example the increase in Virginia was reported in the Washington post last month, and cases are also on the increase in Minnesota and Maryland.

The picture shows a device that attracts deer to corn and then uses paint rollers to apply a pesticide that kills ticks. When they lean down to get the corn, the rollers on either side touch their heads and necks, applying the pesticide. Although invented and perfected by U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists to protect cattle from lone star ticks in the Southwest it has been adapted to help reduce the number of black-legged ticks on deer in Maryland.