Charlotte, NC – The portrait of an Atlanta resident is included in “The Faces of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” a traveling photo exhibit that is part of a national health education initiative sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the CFIDS Association of America.

“The Faces of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” (CFS) will be displayed on the ground floor of the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library (1 Margaret Mitchell Square) in the Library Express area from November 26 – December 1. This event is free and open to the public.

The local “face” in the exhibit is that of physicist and professor Wilhelmina Jenkins, who has battled CFS since 1983 and retired due to disability in 1987. She is one of eight patients and two health care professionals photographed for the exhibit by celebrity photographer George Lange.

The photo exhibit is part of the first nationwide education and awareness campaign for CFS in the United States. Although more than one million Americans suffer from CFS, less than 20% have been diagnosed, compromising their health care. The campaign is designed to educate the public and health care professionals about diagnosis and treatment of this medical condition and to help Americans learn to recognize the symptoms of CFS and seek medical care if they think they or a family member may be suffering from CFS. The theme of the campaign is “Get informed. Get diagnosed. Get help.”

“Educating the public and health care professionals about CFS is critical to achieving better diagnosis rates, better care and a more compassionate social landscape for patients,” said Kimberly McCleary, president and CEO of the CFIDS Association of America, a nonprofit organization that educates the public, patients and health care professionals about CFS and funds research into the cause and possible treatments for it. “This campaign provides credible, evidence-based information on an illness that is still widely misunderstood.”

When the photo exhibit leaves the Library, it will remain in Atlanta in a move to the Global Health Odyssey in the Tom Harkin Global Communications Center at CDC headquarters (1600 Clifton Road NE at CDC Parkway) from December 3, 2007 – January 4, 2008. Admission and parking are free.

CFS is characterized by at least six months of profound, incapacitating fatigue and postexertional malaise — a worsening of symptoms following physical or mental activity. Other defining symptoms include impaired memory or concentration, sleep problems, muscle pain, joint pain, headaches, sore throat and tender lymph nodes.

The CFIDS Association of America is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization committed to conquering CFS. The Association is second to the federal government in funding initiatives for CFS. Since 1987 the CFIDS Association has invested $22.3 million in CFS education, public policy and research. CFS is also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS). For more information, visit www.cfids.org/cfs.