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| Science & Technology |
| Morgellons Disease Now Being Found In Oregon |
| 2007-05-13 |
| Kathleen's body is covered with scars and red welts. They cover her arms and legs and rim her hairline. She said they're caused by mysterious fibers that emerge from her skin and make her body feel like it's crawling with bugs. "It feels like a stinging sensation or like a gnat has lightly landed on my skin. It makes my skin itch. It feels like I've been bitten in the beginning, and when I get a raised bump on my skin, that's when I usually find one of the black fibers", said Kathleen. The strange illness has plagued her for four years and cost her jobs, an engagement, and her happiness. She said now even her 10-year old daughter, and 17-year old son are showing the same symptoms. "Kathleen" - we changed her name to protect her privacy - first called Newschannel 8 a year ago about the disease many call "Morgellons." She declined to go on camera at the time, worried it would harm her loved ones. Last month, she changed her mind, and said she'd let us see for ourselves the fibers that have taken over her life. Kathleen set up a newly purchased microscope at her Tualatin home so we could examine and videotape the fibers. We watched as she carefully washed her hands, then covered them with Eucerin cream. "What will happen now is they'll begin to come to the surface of the skin,"she said. Kathleen probed at her fingers with tweezers, and examined her skin with a magnifying glass. After several minutes, Kathleen said, "I see a fiber. They are coming out of the side of my finger." We couldn't actually see any fiber come of her skin, but when I looked at the tweezer, I could see what looked to be a small hair wrapped around the end of the tweezer. She placed it on a slide under the microscope. As she examined it she told us, "Some of the fibers, like this one, have barbs that resemble thorns. I find it fascinating, disgusting, horrifying at times, but at the same time, it's like watching a train wreck." She said the fibers can be black, but sometimes are clear or red or blue. "When they're black, they're usually shaped like a staple." I looked through the microscope and saw what looked like a hair with a barb or bubble on it. What was it, and what is Kathleen's illness? It is the subject of an emerging medical controversy. A growing legion of peole across the country say they have the illness they call Morgellons. However, the medical community has not recognized Morgellons as a disease. We took the video of the fibers to Portland psychiatrist Dr. Annette Matthews. Dr. Matthews hasn't treated Kathleen, but after watching the tape, she said she's seen it before in other patients. "I think it's part of a larger phenomenon called Delusional Parasitosis. Some people call it dramatophobia or bugaphobia. It's extremely distressing to people. They really think they have bugs, or worms or fibers," she said. But, Kathleen insists it's not in her head. "I am not mentally ill. There are doctors, nurses, people in all professions with this disease. I just want treatment for it. Just because it's scary doesn't mean it's not real", she said. The Centers for Disease Control has received so many calls from people who say they have Morgellons, it has formed a task force to look into it. Dan Rutz, a spokesman for the CDC, said, "We are not doubting for a moment that people's suffering is real. What we're not sure of is what's behind it. We would like people to be patient with the process. Good science takes time." While Kathleen waits for answers, she said the disease is destroying her life and her children's lives. "What's frustrating to me is to see my own children being really sick with this, and maybe even having shorter lives because of it and just having everyone ignore us, it's very difficult. It's a nightmare, an absolute nightmare,"she said. This, whatever it is, used to be almost exclusive to California, Texas and Florida. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #12 Some interesting pics on Google Image: http://tinyurl.com/2gv9u4 |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-13 20:51 |
| #11 I had an ingrown hair in my nose. Eventually it grew out the side, and when it grew real long, I used it to sew my nose closed. Now when I talk, I sound like Larry King. i concur... fucking hiLarious!! ;-) and heh whats not to like about these names, Delusional Parasitosis, Dramatophobia or Bugaphobia... I got HAIRS |
| Posted by: RD 2007-05-13 19:46 |
| #10 LOL Mr. James. Funny is funny. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2007-05-13 19:22 |
| #9 I knew a poor old guy who had a *month* of bad diarrhea with four doctors mis-diagnosing him. The fifth asked him just one question: visited Mexico recently? "Yes". Then he did one test, positive for amoebic dysentery. Gave him a few pills and that was the end of it. The others had said "probably cancer", "old age", "bad diet", and "bad diet". |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2007-05-13 17:05 |
| #8 How many times have doctors told people that some physical problem was "all in their head", only to get proven wrong years later? I'd get another doctor. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-13 14:58 |
| #7 From wikipedia, George Schwartz of Santa Fe, New Mexico initially believed the cause may be the bacterium Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, and has claimed success in treating patients with antibiotics that target this waterborne bacterium.[17] He now believes it is a parasitic infection. In his booklet "Lisa's Disease, A Fiber Disease", he describes four stages to this condition. Stage four places body organs in jeopardy. Schwartz also treated patients with anti-worm medication and diatomaceous earth.[21]. He says it is "a modern day plague which silently grows within the host and after weeks may explode into cavernous, thread- bearing skin lesions, and can extrude eggs and larvae" and is "a highly contagious, world-wide epidemic which will soon reach a critical mass". He has developed a treatment plan for the early stages[22]. In August, 2006 he published a new book describing this disease and treatment plans.[23] Currently he is barred from practicing medicine, due to a narcotics violation[4]. These kinds of 'stealth' difficult to treat bacterial infections are far more prevalent than the medical system recognizes. I'd urge anyone who has physical symptoms labelled autoimmune or psychosomatic to look into the possibility it's treatable by antibiotics. www.cpnhelp.org |
| Posted by: phil_b 2007-05-13 13:35 |
| #6 I had an ingrown hair in my nose. Eventually it grew out the side, and when it grew real long, I used it to sew my nose closed. Now when I talk, I sound like Larry King. |
| Posted by: wxjames 2007-05-13 13:09 |
| #5 ...This sounds like an episode of 'House' just waiting to happen. All kidding aside, I have read about cases like this, but they were always far less severe. Every last one of them, however, turned out to be soem kind of infected or ingrown hair. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2007-05-13 12:45 |
| #4 No it might be this. She's depressed and thus vulnerable to paranoia. Depression ALSO messes up the immune system. Immune suppressed people get all sorts of weird infections. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-05-13 11:10 |
| #3 Well, it's either the first signs of the Chtorr, or they're freaking nuts. How wonderful it is to live in a society so free of real disease that people have taken to making up their own. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2007-05-13 10:09 |
| #2 I have a feeling it's infected hair. She probably has a fungal infection. She should cut out all carb for a while, and take some "friendly stomach bacteria". Wash with Nizoral would help too |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2007-05-13 09:23 |
| #1 "do you like it honey? It's a sweater. I knitted it from fibers I grew from my own body..." |
| Posted by: Frank G 2007-05-13 09:16 |