AKIPRESS.COM - Experts are predicting a jump in Lyme disease this year, and ticks aren't the only ones to blame.

The northeast will be hit particularly hard, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reporting New York already has more cases of Lyme disease than any other state.

And it could get even worse, CBS New York reports.

"We expect it to be a particularly bad year," said Dr. Richard Ostfeld, Ph.D., who studies tick-borne diseases at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York.

The reason Ostfeld is predicting a jump in human Lyme disease cases now is because of a bumper crop of acorns falling from oak trees nearly two years ago.

"More acorns leads to more mice, leads to more infected ticks, leads to more Lyme disease in us," he said.