Suspicions that tularemia has made a comeback on the Vineyard for the third summer in a row have prompted a series of new health advisories aimed at the group of people at highest risk for the disease - landscapers.

From the start, scientists have viewed the outbreak of tularemia on Martha's Vineyard as an ecological puzzle, never a case of bio-terrorism, despite tularemia's recognized status as a bacteria ideally suited for terrorism.

State health advisories warning people to wear dust masks when mowing the lawn or cutting brush may have put a dent in this summer's total for cases of tularemia, the rare disease that has an unexplained foothold on the Vineyard.

Scientists cast a wide net this week in the search for clues to why a rare disease called tularemia has a foothold on the Vineyard. They drew blood samples from landscapers, dragged for dog ticks and trapped rodents.

Are rabbits really to blame for last summer's outbreak of tularemia and for what could be a repeat performance this year?

A new team of scientists, including one from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has begun arriving on the Island to investigate what could be another outbreak of pneumonic tularemia, and they are calling on landscapers to help.