Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

[Giuseppe]

[Source: Guardian, full text: (LINK).]

Morgellons: an alien epidemic?



‎7 May ‎2011 | Will Storr

It's a mysterious condition that affects tens of thousands worldwide. But what is it?

It all started in August 2007, on a family holiday in New England. Paul had been watching Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix with his wife and two sons, and he had started to itch. His legs, his arms, his torso ? it was everywhere. It must be fleas in the seat, he decided.

But the 55-year-old IT executive from Birmingham has been itching ever since, and the mystery of what is wrong with him has only deepened. When Paul rubbed his fingertips over the pimples that dotted his skin, he felt spines. Weird, alien things, like splinters. Then, in 2008, his wife was soothing his back with surgical spirit when the cotton swab she was using gathered a curious blue-black haze from his skin. Paul went out, bought a ?40 microscope and examined the cotton. What were those curling, coloured fibres? He Googled the words: "Fibres. Itch. Sting. Skin." And there was his answer. It must be: all the symptoms fitted. He had a new disease called morgellons.

(?)


? Some names have been changed.

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[mixin]

Re: Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

Also see our earlier discussion on Morgellons: http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49940&highlight=Morgellons

The CDC did a study on it but I haven't seen the results.
Here are snips from this link http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/investigation.html

On September 24, 2009, CDC convened an external review panel made up of experts from the fields of dermatology, infectious diseases, public health, and mental health which examined the study activities to date and provided advice on future activities.

When data analysis is complete and results of the study are available, the findings will most likely be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and disseminated through other channels, to CDC’s public health partners, such as State and local health departments and medical societies, and through this website.

 

[Giuseppe]

Re: Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

[Source: Los Angeles Times, full text: (LINK).]

An infestation that begins in the mind


‎17 May ‎2011


Self-described sufferers of Morgellons disease say their skin is infested with mysterious parasites, and they demanded a government study. The Mayo Clinic concludes the symptoms are often delusional.

They complain of mysterious, creepy symptoms: bugs ? or some form of infestation ? crawling beneath their skin, sometimes burrowing to the surface, leaving odd specks and colored filaments in their wake.

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[mixin]

Re: Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

Delusional Infestation, Including Delusions of Parasitosis

Results of Histologic Examination of Skin Biopsy and Patient-Provided Skin Specimens

Sara A. Hylwa, BS; Jessica E. Bury, MD; Mark D. P. Davis, MD; Mark Pittelkow, MD; J. Michael Bostwick, MD

Arch Dermatol. Published online May 16, 2011. doi:10.1001/archdermatol.2011.114

Objective To review the results of skin biopsies and patient-provided specimens from patients whose assessment was consistent with delusional infestation, including delusions of parasitosis.

Design Retrospective medical record review.

Setting Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Patients The study population comprised all patients who were seen at Mayo Clinic and had a diagnosis of delusional skin infestation, including delusions of parasitosis, between 2001 and 2007, and who underwent biopsies as part of their dermatologic evaluations or brought samples to their clinical consultations.

Main Outcome Measures The results of examination of these biopsy and patient-provided specimens.

Results A total of 108 patients met inclusion criteria for this study: 80 received biopsies, 80 had self-procured skin specimens, and 52 patients received biopsies and provided specimens. No biopsy specimen (0 of 80) provided evidence to support skin infestation. The most common interpretations in the 80 biopsy specimens were dermatitis in 49 of 80 (61%); excoriation, ulceration, or erosion in 38 (48%); and nonspecific dermal inflammation in 25 (31%). Patient-provided specimens were most frequently assessed by the physician (generally a dermatologist) evaluating the patient, although 20 of the 80 samples (25%) were submitted for pathologic evaluation. Of these 80 specimens, 10 (13%) contained insects. All but 1 of the insects were noninfesting varieties; 1 (1%) was a pubic louse. The remaining findings consisted of cutaneous debris, environmental detritus, or plant material.

Conclusion In patients with suspected delusional infestation, neither skin biopsies nor examination of patient-provided specimens provided objective evidence of skin infestation.


Author Affiliations: Visiting Medical Professional for Research, Department of Dermatology (Ms Hylwa), Mayo Medical School, College of Medicine (Dr Bury), and Departments of Dermatology (Drs Davis and Pittelkow) and Psychiatry and Psychology (Dr Bostwick), Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

http://archderm.ama-assn.org/cgi/co...ns&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&resourcetype=HWCIT

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

January 26, 2012 10:18 AM

Morgellons disease exists "only in patients' minds," study shows


By CBS News Staff


(CBS/AP) What if it felt like there were tiny bugs crawling all over your body, causing oozing sores and mysterious fibers sprouting from your skin? That's how many people described their symptoms to government doctors several years ago, with health officials sometimes receiving up to 20 calls a day from sufferers.

Many of these people lived in California, prompting one of that state's U.S. senators, Dianne Feinstein, to ask for a scientific study. In 2008, federal health officials began to study people who said they were affected by this freakish condition called Morgellons disease - named from a 1674 medical paper that described similar symptoms.

What did the long-awaited study conclude? Morgellons exists only in the patients' minds.
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Sufferers of Morgellons describe symptoms including fatigue, erupting sores, crawling sensations on their skin, and mysterious red, blue or black fibers sprouting from their skin. Some say they've suffered for decades.

The study, published Jan. 25 in the journal PLoS One, cost nearly $600,000. It focused on more than 3 million people who lived in 13 counties in Northern California. After researchers went through Kaiser Permanente patient records, they flagged 115 people who had what sounded like Morgellons. That's the equivalent of roughly 4 out of every 100,000 Kaiser enrollees. "So it's rare," said Mark Eberhard, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official who was part of the 15-member study team. But when the researchers dug further to find a cause for the disease, they came up empty.

"We found no infectious cause," Eberhard said.

More...
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_...se-exists-only-in-patients-minds-study-shows/

 

[Pathfinder]

Re: Morgellons: an alien epidemic? (The Guardian, May 7 2011, extract, edited)

New Scientific Study Provides Evidence That Morgellons Is a Physical Illness

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Charles E. Holman Foundation applauds newest research as scientists find connection between infectious disease afflicting cattle and humans.
Austin, TX (PRWEB) May 16, 2012

The controversial illness known as Morgellons disease has a physiological basis, according to a new research report, "Morgellons Disease: A Chemical and Light Microscopic Study," published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Dermatology Research.

Recently, veterinary microbiologist Marianne J. Middelveen from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and internist Raphael B. Stricker, MD published a study documenting similarities between Morgellons disease and a veterinary illness known as bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) that causes lameness, decreased milk production, weight loss, and skin lesions near the hooves of affected cattle. That study revealed that the unusual fibers seen in the animal disease were similar to those seen in and under the skin of people worldwide who suffer from Morgellons disease. A new study confirms that Morgellons disease is not a delusional illness, as some in the medical community maintain.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/05/16/prweb9513362.DTL#ixzz1v95e0sQ8