By Elizabeth Cook

elizabeth.cook@salisburypost.com

Tick season is well under way, and though no cases of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever have been reported in Rowan County so far this year, two reports surfaced in the past week of individuals being tested for Lyme disease.

Angie Worley, communicable disease nurse at the Health Department, said Friday the two cases came on top of one report in February.

The tests may or may not reveal with certainty whether those three people actually have Lyme disease. It’s hard to diagnose, Worley said.

There’s the rub and the reason why local Lyme disease sufferers are promoting May as Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Salisbury. The disease’s symptoms — arthritis-like joint pain, chronic headaches and feeling extremely tired — resemble those of several other ailments.

As a result, treatment for Lyme disease is often delayed.

Doug Robinson of Salisbury, a former systems analyst now on disability, knows about that. He suffered with symptoms nearly six months before a doctor confirmed he had Lyme disease in January 2008, and he is still feeling the consequences.

“Those of us who have been impacted by the disease feel that we have an obligation to do all we can to encourage folks to take prevention measures and, if bitten, to be very cognizant of one’s symptoms,” Robinson said.

According to the state Department of Health and Human Services, symptoms can be varied:

• Early symptoms may occur three to 30 days following the bite of an infected tick and may include fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes.

• About three out of four infected people also develop a rash that looks like a bull’s eye or target and can expand to as much as 12 inches across.

• If not treated early, the infection can spread to a person’s joints, heart and nervous system.

Worley said there has been one instance in Rowan of a gentleman who had active cardiac symptoms. Don’t delay seeing a doctor and being tested if you think you may have the disease, she said.

Worley said she gets a lot of reports of suspected cases in which the person has not been exposed to ticks.

“I report them all to the state,” she said. Someone there determines if the person has a confirmed case of Lyme Disease.

The number of people tested for Lyme disease in Rowan runs to 40-50 a year, she said, and the annual number of confirmed cases is very small. She estimated two a year.

During 2013, North Carolina reported 173 cases of Lyme disease— 39 confirmed and 134 probable.

Confirmation requires two-tier testing, Worley said. “Most doctors don’t do the follow-up blood test.” That second lab would tell more, she said.

Robinson and others who have struggled with Lyme disease have formed a support group, Celebration of Hope–Piedmont NC, where those affected by the disease can share information and successful methods for coping with and treating the disease. The group meets every fourth Sunday beginning at 3 p.m. in the Lyerly Building on South Main St. For more info, go to the group’s page on Facebook or contact Patti Lyerly by phone at 704-639-9973 or via e-mail at plyerly@hotmail.com.