Last year we had 892 cases of Lyme Disease in the state – nearly doubling the numbers from 2006.

Some people think that global warming trends are linked to that spike.

NHPR’s Dianne Finch has more.

Drive north from the southeastern part of the state – you’ll find that bustling cities and seacoast towns give way to lakes and mountains and struggling rural economies.

But landscapes and jobs aren’t the only factors dividing the regions.

According to the latest official numbers, the southeast has the dubious distinction of having higher rates of Lyme Disease.

Jose Montero is the state’s epidemiologist and director of Public Health Services at Department of Health and Human Services.

Montero: “You look at the rates of disease in Rockingham County, Strafford County or Hillsborough County are all quite different from what you will see in Grafton, Sullivan or Cheshire counties. And at same time amount of ticks that you find in those counties is higher and the amount of infected ticks is higher in those three counties or even four if we include Merrimack County.”

Southeastern counties are of course more populated than their northern counterparts.

But that doesn’t explain the higher rates of the tick-borne disease.

There are at least two factors contributing to that difference.

There are more deer per square mile in the southeast – and deer carry ticks infected with Lyme bacteria.

Kent Gustafson is the deer project leader at Fish & Game.

Gustafson: “Obviously the more deer there are the more opportunity there are for ticks to feed and you can wind up with more ticks.”

In addition – deer habitats in the southeast are close to suburban areas – increasing the chance for people to get bitten by the bugs.

The illness can be treated successfully with antibiotics – but if untreated it can lead to serious problems.

Deer might not be the only reason more people contract Lyme in the south.