Mystery disease hits South Texas

[KBCraig]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/medical/stories/MYSA072406.morgellons.KENS.1e13fade.html

CDC considers Texas for Morgellons study

Web Posted: 07/25/2006 12:50 AM CDT

Deborah Knapp
KENS 5 Eyewitness News

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a study of Morgellons disease that may target South Texas where more than 100 people are suffering from the illness.

Cindy Casey suffers from Morgellons. Symptoms of the disease include lesions that leave scars, the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin, and fibers that pop out of the skin.

"Mostly black and white. Some of them were blue, and some of them were red. The whole area gets really sore and you feel some sort of crawling sensation around the lesion," Casey said.

Like others, Casey was diagnosed with delusional parasitosis ? delusions of parasites. Most doctors do not recognize Morgellons as a disease.

However, one medical school is taking Morgellons very seriously. Most of the research on Morgellons is being done at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. Doctors and scientists at OSU said this disease is real, and it's frightening.

"I am 100 percent convinced that Morgellons is a real disease pathology," said Dr. Randy Wymore, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at OSU.

Wymore has spent the past year studying hundreds of fibers from Morgellons patients.

"The samples do look very similar to one another," he said.

Wymore added that the fibers don't look like anything found in textiles. He has also determined that the fibers are not rubbing off from clothing, because doctors at OSU have found the fibers inside the body.

"We were able to observe fibers under completely unbroken skin," he said.

Dr. Rhonda Casey has examined more than 30 Morgellons patients.

"There's no question in my mind that it's a real disease," she said.

Dr. Casey has extracted fibers from under the skin, and examined them under a microscope.

"If it were not for the fibers, the patients would all be taken seriously. So I think even though the fibers may be a key to helping us diagnose this disease, they have also been a hinderance to it even being accepted as a real disease in the past," she said.

Even thought the lesions and fibers are the most visible symptoms, doctors said the more damaging effects of this disease are the nerve and neurological damage, which affects the ability to think and move.

"Trouble concentrating, trouble communicating, and problems thinking of the words you want to say, and how you want to express yourself," patient Cindy Casey said.

However, it is the symptoms that sound like science fiction that make this disease like no other.

"I pulled some fibers out, and I was just taking a look at it, and the fibers just started to move around, kind of around each other," Cindy Casey said. "And I screamed to Charles (my husband), 'Charles, come here and look, because everyone's been telling me I'm crazy. Charles, look at this,' and he looked at it, and yeah, he saw it too."

"This one I didn't want to believe," Charles Casey said.

Incidents like that are just one more bizarre part to this puzzling disease that seems to be spreading.

"There is the slightly frightening component to it that we don't know what causes this. If more and more people are coming down with Morgellons, we need to get a handle on this," Wymore said. "Is there an environmental component that needs to be addressed? Is it contagious? These are all things that we don't know the answer to at this point."

The CDC has formed a task force to investigate Morgellons, and they are launching a study to find out where this condition is most common and who it affects. Texas is one of the states with the most cases per capita, and the epidemiology study may be conducted here.

The CDC has setup an e-mail address for people to ask questions, because of the volume of calls following the reports that aired on KENS 5 in May. That e-mail address is morgellonssyndrome@cdc.gov.

[dalebert]

Could this be a case of Morgellan's?

http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/07/buttpimple.html

[KBCraig]

Could this be a case of Morgellan's?

http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/07/buttpimple.html

Don't think so. But it's a nasty-ass abscess! (Get it? "nasty ass"?  )

Can't believe I watched that while eating pizza...

[dalebert]

Could this be a case of Morgellan's?

http://ebaumsworld.com/2006/07/buttpimple.html

Don't think so. But it's a nasty-ass abscess! (Get it? "nasty ass"?  )

Can't believe I watched that while eating pizza...

It's lunchtime so I thought I should bump this in case anyone missed it.

[KBCraig]

http://www.ktbs.com/health/3740981.html

Effective Treatment Presented for Morgellon's Disease

From 2nd International Conference on global warming and emerging parasitic and infectious diseases

FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- On August 25, 2006, Dr. George Schwartz presented a series of case reports demonstrating how an intensive anti-parasitic treatment program leads to effective treatment of Morgellon's (thread, fiber, or Lisa's disease) and cure in early cases.

This "mystery disease" originally misinterpreted as a psychiatric disorder (delusions of parasitosis) is a contagious and serious systemic disease. Its symptoms include intense pruritis (itching), a creeping-crawling sensation under the skin and poorly healing skin lesions. Unique to this disease is the production by the parasite of clear, white, blue, or red fibers ranging from microscopic to inches long. Along with these symptoms can be muscle pain and contraction, anemia, enlarged liver and spleen and bony degeneration. Neurological symptoms may be prominent and are characterized by memory impairment and confusion (termed "brain fog" by patients). In children the behavioral disturbances may be erroneously called "Autism."

Comparing the parasite's production of fibers in one of its life stages to that of a silkworm, Dr. Schwartz noted that the reason for the fibers is still unknown, but it may represent a form of cocoon development or inter-parasite communication. He added, "The fiber production is often associated with electronic phenomena and the role of the fibers in nerve transmission needs to be investigated."

When asked about the contagiousness of the disease, Dr. Schwartz pointed out that transmission through families is common, and people who inhabit a house or room in which the disease has been contracted are at risk. "One family in Idaho, for example, became infected with the disease and moved away. Two months later another family moved into the same house and all family members got the condition." What does this mean for real estate sales? "It should be disclosed," Dr. Schwartz said. "And patients with this disease should avoid hotel and motel rooms which are possible transmission sites."

When asked about the origin of the disease, Dr. Schwartz added, "I believe the disease is either new or very old and has emerged due to global warming. For example, it could be like a plague of the Egyptians thousands of years ago. I am often asked about bio-engineering and while it is a possibility, the disease will respond to an intensive anti-parasitic management program leading to effective treatment and cure in early cases regardless of the origin." However, he added with emphasis, "The disease is epidemic and doubling rapidly. In the future there will have to be special multi- disciplinary centers to treat this condition and control the spread. We are currently performing DNA analysis to determine the nature of the parasite, which should be helpful."

[Pat K]

Wow A maybe 1 degree rise in global temp in a 100 years and this thing springs to life, sensitive little bugger.

[KBCraig]

Wow A maybe 1 degree rise in global temp in a 100 years and this thing springs to life, sensitive little bugger.

The doc is bonkers. But I can attest to quarter degree increases causing "sensitive little buggers" to rise up in protest.

[tracysaboe]

You mean like them envirocommie buggers?

Tracy

[dalebert]

I'm SUPER skeptical of this disease (and with a lot of the stuph around Global Warming for that matter). The fact that it's accompanied with psychological problems, that they can't find this "parasite", that there is an incredible shortage of pictures of symptoms, that the symptoms do not seem consistent from one telling to another, etc. are some of the reasons I'm skeptical.

For instance, the lesions supposedly don't heal, but then you'll hear of someone talking about how they had this lesion on their face. I'm like, "Well where is it now? It should still be there." It's like they're describing these symptoms to doctors but never have the symptoms AT THE TIME they go to the doctor. I saw the one video where they took the kid to the dermatologist and she plucks this tiny little short fiber out of his lip, quite easily plucks it I might add, and looks at it under a microscope and admits she doesn't know what it is. Meanwhile, all super close-up pictures of the fibers I've seen don't look anything like it. It frankly looked like a setup. Hey, it sells news.

[Follow]

Wow A maybe 1 degree rise in global temp in a 100 years and this thing springs to life, sensitive little bugger.

The doc is bonkers. But I can attest to quarter degree increases causing "sensitive little buggers" to rise up in protest.

Follow