A small group of local women is working to increase the public awareness of the increasing prevalence of Lyme disease in Georgia and Baldwin County.

The Middle Georgia Chapter of the Georgia Lyme Disease Association is now recruiting members for the group that specializes in education and support for people with the illness.

“Some people claim there is no Lyme disease in Georgia,” organizer Ellen Thompson-Wood said. “I was diagnosed in June of 2007 by Dr. Penelope Brooks.”

Wood’s diagnosis was followed by intensive antibiotic treatment. Co-infections are common, and Wood’s experience is something that the women who founded the local organization have shared.

“We started this group as a support group,” Wood said. “We were meeting during the day and didn’t have a lot of publicity. We talk about the disease and our common difficulties with treatment.”

Local chapter director Terri Drummond said the group has a few goals members are working to achieve, including a comprehensive diagnostic tool.

“We need new, more effective testing,” Drummond said.

Drummond said the current two-tier testing is not always the most accurate, and since Lyme disease symptoms can often mimic other illnesses, many times people with Lyme are misdiagnosed.

“People are diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis — even multiple sclerosis, when they really have Lyme disease,” Drummond said. “Diagnoses of MS and lupus are common because so many of the symptoms appear to be auto-immune disorders and they are similar.”

Lyme disease awareness is growing, although some agencies and insurance companies are slow to recognize the disease as a chronic condition — or as a disease at all. The newly-formed local chapter of the Georgia Lyme Disease Association hopes to encourage people to take caution when outdoors. Tick bites have been found to be one of the most commons ways to transmit the disease.

“People should know the proper way to remove a tick,” Drummond said. “You have to hold tweezers flat against the skin,” she said. “Don’t pull up or squeeze the tick too hard. Pull straight back.”

Lyme disease can be cured if caught early enough, but one sure sign that Lyme has been transmitted is if a tick bite is followed by a bull’s eye rash. Treatment with antibiotics such as doxicyclene and tetracyclene are common.

“Lots of people don’t even realize they have a tick bite until much later,” Wood said.

The group is now meeting on the first Tuesday of the month at 5:30 p.m. in Room One at Oconee Regional Medical Center’s Education Center. For more information, call Drummond at (478) 452-5919 or e-mail RainDanceTerri@yahoo.com or call Ellen Thompson Wood at (478) 932-0020.