300+ Reported Cases of Morgellons Disease in WA State

Some time ago I was in a position to assist a very sick young woman who was battling her disability insurance carrier because they had denied her claim for coverage and medical benefits because she had "delusional parasitosis," and "psychiatric" conditions of this sort were excluded from coverage.

Before becoming ill, this young woman was by all accounts bright, funny and hard-working. When I met her she was unable to work, was broke, and was near-suicidal on occasion from chronic pain.

Three years before, she had taken an extended trip to the San Francisco-Oakland area, and she developed a high fever that lasted several days. Shortly after the fever broke, she began developing painful, incredibly itchy pustules. These pustules broke open but instead of releasing any pus or healing, many of them morphed into deep, non-healing lesions and ulcers.

Then she started noticing very small, multi-colored fibers and speck-like materials in the lesions. When she tried using tweezers to remove these from a lesion on her wrist, she said it "felt like I was on fire. I had incredible pain shooting up my arm." On a couple occasions she actually saw vein-like "somethings" growing under her skin, she would itch uncontrollably, a pustule would suddenly form, and out of it would erupt these fibers and specks. Some of her friends and family witnessed this occur on a couple of occasions.

She couldn't sleep. She kept waking up, feeling like "bugs" were crawling on her. She was fired from her job when the ulcers on her face wouldn't heal.

She went to her GP a couple times seeking relief. The GP witnessed one of these sudden eruptions, documented it in the medical records and took some samples. Then, she was referred to a dermatologist.

To help the dermatologist, this young lady brought along a few samples of the fibers. She only saw this doctor for a few minutes during which he did a cursory exam. Unfortuantely for her (and unbeknownst to her), and for countless other sufferers of Morgellons Disease, this dermatologist concluded on the spot--with no inquiry, testing or bloodwork--that this young lady had "delusions of parasites."

The dermatologist referred her to a psychiatrist "for her depression and anxiety" and she was put on medication for it. This medication caused her long periods of near-catatonia, but did nothing to help with her symptoms.

So she was trapped in a body she couldn't move, feeling like bugs were crawling all over her, feeling like she was on fire, and all she could do was sit there in a brain fog and feel the intense pain, watch the pustules form and watch the fibers emerge from her body. She kept asking the psychiatrist for a referral to another dermatologist, but the psychiatrist felt it was important for her to first keep taking her meds to "stabilize her moods", so he kept increasing the dosage and reassured her that it would help her. So she took these drugs for a couple months until one day she happened to glance at her chart and realized that she'd been had.

Because of the dermatologist's "diagnosis" all along this psychiatrist had also presumed that she had this condition too (though this hadn't ever been discussed with her) and had been dosing her with heavy-duty anti-psychotics.

Through some symptoms-based internet searching, we stumbled upon the Morgellons Disease foundation's website. We learned that her disease progression and symptoms were "classic"--the high fever, the pustules, the ulcers, the terrible itching, the chronic pain, the sub-dermal "veining," and the fibers and specks. We learned that misdiagnosis of this disease as "parasitical delusions" was commonplace. We also learned that there were "hot spots" in specific localized areas of Texas, Florida and California (especially in the San Francisco-Oakland area where she had visited and fell ill) where reports were higher than anywhere else, and that reports of this disease were increasing.

We were able to connect with Randall Wymore, Ph.D., the lead Morgellons researcher in the United States. Dr. Wymore was extremely helpful in providing this young woman's new doctors with information about the disease progression and insights into her condition, and his input was extremely helpful in securing the medical help that she desperately needed. She received large doses of antibiotics and other drugs and treatments similar to what is provided to patients with Lyme Disease and fibromyalgia, and her symptoms subsided.

At the time all of the occurred, about three years ago or so, research into this "emerging disease" was just beginning and because the disease was't yet "recognized" no research funding was available. Dr. Wymore indicated that he and several of his colleages from various scientific disciplines had studied several skin patch samples including the fibers, but they were unable to determine (despite using multiple methods) what exactly these fibers were comprised of, however they did rule out that they were hairs or other organic materials. They did conclusively determine that the fibers and specks were actually embedded within and between layers of skin, not just laying on the outer surface of the skin (as would be the case with a piece of clothing fiber or animal hair, for example).

The CDC's interest in, and funding for research has been slow in coming.

But in the last three years, the number of reported cases of Morgellons Disease has grown all across the United States and elsewhere. Three years ago we knew of just two cases in the Seattle area. Now, in Washington state alone there are over 350 reported cases noted at the foundation's website.

Since this time there has been some national media coverage. There has been additional inquiry and conferences held as to what, exactly, the fibers and specks are and what is causing the disease. Dr. Wymore and his team are methodically experimenting and investigating the disease, but haven't formed any definitive conclusions yet.

Some other researchers not associated with the Morgellons foundation or Dr. Wymore's research team believe that the fibers and specks are comprised of materials commonly used in fiber-optics and nano-technology.

The EPA published a "white paper" in 2007 detailing the growing use of nanotechnology in industries, the inherent challenges of said use, and the possibility of widespread enviromental contamination.

This possibility is frightening.

Now I know that some people reading this post might think that this young woman was mentally ill and delusional, and that I shared her delusions, but this is simply not the case. Consider: I had never met her before and had no social pressure whatsoever to believe anything other than my own eyes. She was suffering, for sure, and was seriously ill, but she was not delusional. Once she was off the psych drugs and received antibiotics, her symptoms abated, and she improved quite a bit, though she still had occasional outbreaks.

When I first did the google searching on this disease three years ago, I came across a short piece on Morgellon's Disease by a Ben Chertoff that was published (of all places) in Popular Mechanics.

Ben Chertoff's piece on Morgellons Disease appears to be the first mention in any larger publication of this disease. Apparently he is a professional debunker, of sorts. But the simple fact of this article appearing in this magazine does raise some interesting questions, among others:

1) What's "mechanical" about this medical disease and why would readers of "Popular Mechanics" be interested?

2) What got Chertoff interested in this disease? Does he have any medical or infectious disease expertise?

3) Why did he not directly contact the nation's leading scientific researcher for quotes?

4) Why did he denigrate people who are suffering in such a cavalier fashion (read the article to get the full flavor of his smary, non-serious "reporting")?

5) Why no mention in the article of the known "hot spots" in the U.S. (which may well geographically correlate with nearby biotech research facilities)?

6) Why write an article debunking this disease when at the time of publication hardly anybody had even heard of it?

7) He's a "professional debunker". But could he also be a paid propagandist?