Norman Conway- MD

OCEAN CITY -- The next step in finding help for Lyme Disease victims on Maryland's Eastern Shore will be trying to address their need for treatment, said Del. Norman Conway, D-38B.

After speaking with the chairman of the state legislature's Health and Government Operations Committee, Del. Pete Hammen, D-46, they decided to investigate the possibility of opening a clinic on the Eastern Shore.

"We feel that potentially partnering with a research institution in the state and a hospital might offer a greater opportunity for diagnosis," Conway said. "Eventually the actual treatment for Lyme Disease would be available somewhere in the region."

Though the plan is still in the works, Conway said the need for a clinic is apparent.

"Once you start talking about (Lyme Disease) everyone seems to know someone who has been or thought to have been involved in some sort of it," he said.

Though the numbers reported locally are low, Conway agrees that problems arise in the diagnosis and having a Lyme-literate doctor on the Shore could prevent the disease from getting out of control.

Robert Beyer from the Maryland Vector-born Disease Interagency Workgroup said he had no hard data that cases of Lyme disease were increasing but plenty of anecdotal evidence.

"It has had a major impact on our lives," he said, recalling a personal experience with a family member.

Beyer's work group is currently trying to partner with medical professionals to figure out the best way to get information to them about the disease.

The only officially accepted information and guidelines about Lyme are those put out by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.

"It's going to take the good citizens who have insurance and medical professionals to work with insurance companies to get (the doctors) to do better testing," he said. "It's something that we certainly need to warn the public about."

He said an important misconception that people should be warned about is the association with Lyme Disease and deer.

"It's actually the black-legged tick," he said. "It's not so much the deer but the smaller animals."

Although local residents and members of the Lyme Disease Association of the Eastern Shore suggest purchasing deer feeders equipped with a brush that swipes them with an insecticide, their efforts may be misdirected.

Beyer said the real carriers of the threatening ticks are mice, chipmunks and birds.

"The thing people are finding more and more is that the impact is much more severe than they thought," he said.

The Lyme Disease Association, which meets the last Monday of every month at the Wicomico County Public Library in Salisbury, is focusing on educating the public and preventing the disease while working with delegates like Conway to help push legislation.

"We are supporting the federal legislation that is now on the books and we are also working with the state," said Pam Andrews of the association.

Andrews said she will meet with Conway this week to discuss plans for an Eastern Shore clinic.

"I think we are at a point where we need to maybe leverage support from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and really define what the need is and go from here," Conway said. "We're not right at the point of setting up a center but we feel that is the right way to go. We really need to focus on the issue."

The National Lyme Disease Association, which has headquarters in New Jersey, is also considering creating a similar research clinic in New York to study the disease more within the United States.

Reach Laura D'Alessandro at 410-213-9442, Ext. 19 or e-mail ldalessand@dmg.gannett.com.

Originally published Thursday, June 29, 2006