WOLFEBORO, N.H. – The milder than normal winter around New England could lead to a rise in Lyme disease this year.

Medical experts at a regional meeting said they want to spread awareness of the disease because the deer ticks that carry it are most active between May and July.

“This disease is a true epidemic,” Dr. Richard Horowitz told the audience of about 300 at Friday’s conference. Horowitz is president-elect of the Maryland-based International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society.

He and other experts said awareness and prevention are their biggest priority.

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease were discovered in the United States when a number of children in and around Lyme, Conn., developed arthritislike symptoms in the mid-1970s. People get it by being bitten by infected deer ticks, which are about the size of poppy seeds. An estimated 20,000 cases are reported each year in the United States.

Pat Smith, president of the Lyme Disease Association, said that figure may represent only 10 percent of total cases.

Early symptoms include a reddish, bull’s-eye rash where the bite was, followed by fever, headache, fatigue and muscle or joint pain. But Smith said the disease can be difficult to diagnose.

Lyme disease can be treated with antibiotics, but untreated cases can lead to complications including meningitis and heart abnormalities.

New Hampshire had 226 reported cases in 2004, 11th in the nation. State health officials say the state had 1,507 reported cases between 1991 and last year. In the past few years, Rockingham and Strafford counties have had the highest incidence.

In Maine, 237 cases were reported in 2005, according to the state Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The state averaged more than 200 cases a year from 2002 to 2004.

Horowitz said this could be a bad year for the disease because the warm winter made it easier for the ticks to reproduce.

Horowitz, who has spent 20 years working on treatments for tick-borne illnesses, said Lyme disease can change in character over time, essentially hiding from the body’s immune system.

Experts urge people to wear long sleeves and pants in the woods, closing them at the ends to help keep ticks out. People should check themselves for ticks after venturing out and should wear insect repellants containing DEET, Picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus.

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