The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced today that it is launching a study to learn about an unexplained condition that causes people to feel as if they have foreign substances growing from their bodies.
People with the condition, referred to as Morgellons disease, say they have fibers and other inorganic material growing out of their skin.
“We earnestly want to learn more about this unexplained illness, which affects the lives of those who suffer from it,” said Dr. Michele Pearson, principal investigator leading the study for the CDC, in a press release. “Those who suffer have questions, and we want to help them.”
“We have a team of epidemiologists, laboratorians and pathologists to carry out the study,” Pearson said.
The study will be conducted in conjunction with Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California Division of Research. For more information, CLICK HERE to visit the CDC’s Unexplained Dermopathy Web site.
In 2006, a number of Morgellons sufferers told ABC News in interviews that when they consulted doctors, they received diagnoses they called wrong or dismissive. Brandi Koch, the wife of former Major League Baseball player Billy Koch, said that she felt as if she were living in a horror movie, claiming she had colored fibers coming out of her skin.
Koch, of Clearwater Beach, Fla., said that her life was good until one day in the shower when she noticed something strange — tiny fibers running through her skin.
“The fibers look like hair, and they’re different colors,” Koch said.
Koch said she knows that what she experienced “sounds crazy,” but it’s true. “If I had a family member call me up and say, ‘I have this stuff,’ I’d say, ‘I’m sending a straitjacket over. You need some help,'” she said.
Anne Dill described a similar condition. Looking at Dill’s life in Florida, she seemed to be living the American dream — her three daughters excelled in sports and were straight-A students.
But life in the Dill household was far from idyllic. Anne’s 40-year-old husband, Tom, died in January 2006, and she believes his death was due to a contagious illness that has infected her entire family.
Dill described her family’s skin: “There’s this fibrous material. It’s in layers.” Dill said the skin on their hands was particularly bad, very swollen and itchy, and said it felt as if bugs were crawling underneath the skin.
Consulting Doctors
Dr. Greg Smith of Gainesville, Ga., has been a pediatrician for the past 30 years. He claimed that a fiber was coming out of his big toe, and he had video footage to prove it.
“It felt like somebody stuck a pin in my toe and wiggled it, and it just continued to hurt,” Smith told ABC News in 2006.
He said he never thought he had bugs. “I’ve certainly had those crawling sensations, and the fibers which come out of the skin are really bizarre, and really odd.”
Smith was handed over to a hospital psychiatrist when he went to the emergency room complaining of a fiber in his eye. He admits that he, too, would be skeptical if a patient came to him with the same story.
“I would wonder if they’d taken their medicine that day. It makes no sense. It’s totally bizarre. It’s something that — just telling the story is so outlandish on the face of it — that no one would believe it,” Smith said. Dill’s doctor told her to stop scratching, even though many of her sores were in places she could not reach.
Koch went to the Mayo Clinic, where doctors didn’t believe that the fibers she’d brought them had grown from her body.
“I saw the infectious disease doctor, and I showed him some samples that I had and he snickered,” she said. “I can’t go through another doctor blowing me off or looking at me like I’m crazy. I know I’m not.”
Dr. Vincent DeLeo, chief of dermatology at New York’s St. Lukes-Roosevelt Medical Center, weighed in on what he’d say to someone who came to him with this condition. “I don’t think this is any different than many patients I’ve seen who have excoriations and believe that there is something in their skin causing this,” he told ABC News in 2006.
DeLeo said the open lesions were most likely a result of scratching the skin.
Relying on Your Own Research
But biologist Mary Leitao refused to accept the medical skepticism surrounding Morgellons.
Leitao’s son, Drew, was just 2 years old when Leitao noticed an odd sore on his lip that would not heal.
“He very simply said ‘bugs,’ and he pointed to his lips,” said Leitao.
Leitao never expected to find herself at the center of a medical storm. But when her son complained about the strange sore, the biologist, who once ran the electron microscope at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, did what any scientist would do. She took a closer look.
“What I saw were bundles of fibers, *** of fibers,” Leitao says. “There was red and blue.” Even stranger, they glowed under ultraviolet light.
Armed with research, Leitao took her son to a doctor at one of the country’s leading hospitals. He dismissed her tale of fibers and wrote to her pediatrician, saying that her son needed Vaseline for his lips and that his mother needed a thorough psychiatric evaluation.
Undaunted, Leitao began poring through medical literature looking for clues. What she discovered was a 17th-century reference to a strange disease with “harsh hairs” called “Morgellons.”
She named the strange fibers Morgellons disease and put the information on a Web site, Morgellons.org. At the time of her interview in 2006, more than 4,500 people had contacted Leitao, claiming they had Morgellons-type symptoms. The name stuck, and the disease was featured on the television show “ER.”
But do these fibers grow from inside the body, as Morgellons patients believe, or do they come from the external environment — a kind of lint — as the medical skeptics say?
Searching for an Answer
Forensic scientist Ron Pogue at the Tulsa Police Crime Lab in Oklahoma checked a Morgellons sample against known fibers in the FBI’s national database. “No, no match at all. So this is some strange stuff,” Pogue said in 2006. He thought the skeptics were wrong. “This isn’t lint. This is not a commercial fiber. It’s not.”
The lab’s director, Mark Boese, said the fibers are “consistent with something that the body may be producing.” He added that, “These fibers cannot be manmade and do not come from a plant. This could be a byproduct of a biological organism.”
Dill said she looks at pictures of her family and finds them unrecognizable. “My kids have to see not only their dad but their mom disintegrating, and that’s gotta be really scary.”
While they wait for evidence that they hope will convince the medical community to take them seriously, some Morgellon’s sufferers wear pink bracelets that say, simply, “Fortitude.”
Pictures of Morgellons Disea
Pictures can be viewed at the following location: Morgellon’s Disease Pictures
Hope you enjoyed the story and pictures of Morgellons Disease
This is wonderful news! I have a friend who is suffering from “something” that the medical professionals do not know much about and it is hard to prove without powerful microscopes – and some goodwill. What we know, for certain, this friend has been exposed to a massive contact with the Mistletoe Browntail Caterpillar hairs. These microscopic hairs are like hypodermic needles filled with poison. They have penetrated under her fingernails and into her hands, face and feet.
Apart from the initial skin lesions and rashes she is now suffering from finger joint problems, has secondary infections and her fingernails are totally ruined. I cannot even mention the secondary problems that she experienced as a result of her being diagnosed as “delusional”.
lol one or two of the opinions most people post are kinda silly, many times i contemplate whether they in fact read the articles or reviews and items before placing a comment or if perhaps they merely read the subject of the blog post and publish the first thing that comes to mind. nonetheless, it’s good to browse smart commentary from time to time rather than the identical, old blog vomit which i continually see on the web i’m going to play a smattering of rounds of facebook poker farewell
Hello Everyone,
I have been suffering from Morgellon’s since 2004. I have tried everything to rid myself of this as many of you have too. All I can say is “Don’t Give Up”. What ever this is, you must believe, the only thing you can do is just “LIVE”. I know that it is hard to understand why this is happening… I know that it doesn’t seem fair… I believe that there is a much bigger message behind this “crazy” disease. I have tried all kinds of remedy’s and there are only a few products that help. Understanding how the body works is most helpful. The natural ph of the intestines and the liver is about 11. To have a healthy balanced body your ph needs to be 4.5 to 5.5. Exercising is also very important. Try distance walking and if you can’t do that start doing some yoga and stretching at home. Again, the most important part of dealing with Morgellons is, LOVE yourself and don’t be afraid! Don’t hide anymore, don’t cover yourself up, don’t make excuses, and don’t be angry. Start educating your self on how to live and survive in this toxic world. Take charge of you right now! Believe in who you are, not what you think others see about you! There is a much greater plan for us and in the end “GOOD” always wins!
Hi Everyone,
I too suffered from tremors and intuitive perceptions that my skin was crawling and my body ‘infected’. What has helped is a simple approach: (a) purchase a Dr. Hulda Clark “zapper” and use it daily for at least two weeks (b) follow her protocol for parasite elimination through the herbal cleanse (a 30 day process combined with zapping for max. effect (c) do a Hulda Clark ‘liver cleanse’ easy, pain-free and effective. Google Dr. Hulda Clark to access a range of net resources – educate yourself on the toxins in our food, air, water, personal products and make the necessary changes. If you also combine this approach with Lugol’s Iodine solution, you will see / feel results. Learn more – this is not a untreatable. However, few allopathic physicians deal with toxic poisoning in our bodies and fewer still work with cleanses… Finally, stay healthy through clean food! I have a site you can consider ordering nutritional support product at that will restore energy / health after the cleanses / zapping (www.mynuriche.com/nutrition) Namaste All… Rob
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I really am sorry for people who are suffering from this kind of disease. I know how you feel and how difficult you are going through right now. The truth is I was suffering from a SEVERE eczema. Four months ago I never go out of my shell and too ashame to face people UNTIL I tried this FOREVER LIVING, an aloe vera product. I used Aloe vera juice and Aloe vera gelly which works perfectly on me. I really don’t believe at first but, just after a week it started to subside. The Aloe Vera Juice will detoxify your body while the ALOE Vera Gelly will heal the sore and kill the bacteria on the surface of the skin. ..PLEASE TRY THIS NON-EXPENSIVE NATURAL PRODUCTS of FOREVER LIVING…….PLEASE…
This Morgellons Disease is a possible outcome of GMO (Genetically Modified Food Organisms). Look it up. Yes, they are messing with the DNA of our food, and we all know that you are what you eat! They are making hybrid seeds that are a cross between plant and animal, and plant and pesticide (built right into the food). These GMO foods are killing animals, and if an animal is given a choice between the GMO food and real food they pass it up. I have no doubt that GMO foods will cause, and are causing death, disease, or some kind of issue such as being described above with little fibres that are red and blue etc… That being said, a sulfur allergy and Niacin will also cause skin crawling feelings. I don’t know what I have but I do have the skin crawling feeling and I have already treated my house, my cats, us, seen 2 dermatologists, thrown away my fabric furniture… everything I can think of. The doctor’s didn’t find anything but I am itchy and have feelings of being tickled with tiny hairs or small lint landing on me. I have no doubt that this disease is being caused by what they are doing to our food. By the way, they just passed a law that keeps them from having to label any GMO ingredients on food labels.
For those of you suffering from this disease, common sense says this is an internal infestation, & should be treated internally. I highly recommend the use of MMS, (Miracle Mineral Solution), at the dosage of 2 drops + 10 drops citric acid mixture, wait 3 min, fill glass with water, drink every 90 minutes, for as long as 2 weeks. It is important to maintain a level of MMS in the blood for extended period of time, in order to kill any newbies that may be circulating, before they self-replicate. Also, using 2 oz bottle, mix 20 drops MMS with 100 drops citric acid, wait 3 min, fill with water: use on your skin lesions, as often as you want. MMS will not harm you, millions have used it (successfully, I might add) for a variety of diseases, with not one death or subsequent illness reported! I have used it for almost a year now, & have had success with it totally curing my athlete’s foot, herpes virus, & IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), & it has helped tremendously with my Grave’s disease. Please try it, it works!!! ps. If this is a NWO tactic, that might explain why they are trying to take this product off the market — no other reason makes sense! ((No, I do not sell it))
If I had a doctor that used the word ‘crazy’, id find a new doctor. Even if you are crazy, that’s not the language doctors normally use. Maybe what the doctor said is, you may be suffering from a mental disorder. People then go away with the idea of, i’ve just been told im crazy.
I BELIEVE I HAVE THE CURE AND ANSWER THE EXPERTS KNEW ALL ALONG BUT DON’T WANT TO REVEAL YET UNTIL THEY HAVE DRAINED ALL THE POCKETS OF THE AFFLICTED LIKE MYSELF.
I’VE BEGUN THE SELF DETOXIFICATION
AND USE OF NATURAL HERBAL REMIDIES THAT
HAS BEEN KNOWN FOR THIS DIBILITATING
DISEASE/CONDITION THAT IS A MISNOMER FOR A LONG KNOWN DISEASE.THIS I WILL
ONLY REVEAL TO THE APPROPRIATE AUTHORITY
FOR PROPER RECOGNITION FOR THIS LONG
OUTSTANDING ILLNESS THAT CAN AND COULD
BE AVOIDED TO ALL LONG LONG LASTING
SUFFERERS OF THIS DISEASE-MORGELLONS/
FORMICATION AS IT WRONGLY TERMED.
SINCERELY YOURS
ALFRED PARRIS
07/27/10