Morgellons: Fact or Fiction?

A great deal has been written over the last few years about Morgellons Disease.

Some health care professionals believe that Morgellons disease needs specific investigation and exploration as an emerging disorder.

Others believe that it’s a manifestation of mental illness called delusional parasitosis.

It has been attributed to aliens implanting foreign material into unsuspecting victims, to the government implanting whistleblowers with some as yet unknown disease. Chemtrails and vaccines have also received their fair share of blame.

The Center for Disease Control has refused to recognize Morgellons as a disease though some research suggests otherwise.

Morgellons disease (MD) is an emerging multisystem illness characterized by skin lesions with unusual filaments embedded in or projecting from epithelial tissue. Filament formation results from abnormal keratin and collagen expression by epithelial-based keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Recent research comparing MD to bovine digital dermatitis, an animal infectious disease with similar skin features, provided clues that spirochetal infection could play an important role in the human disease as it does in the animal illness. Based on histological staining, immunofluorescent staining, electron microscopic imaging and polymerase chain reaction, we report the detection ofBorreliaspirochetes in dermatological tissue of  four randomly-selected MD patients. The association of MD with spirochetal infection provides evidence that this infection may be a significant factor in the illness and refutes claims that MD lesions are self-inflicted and that people suffering from this disorder are delusional. Molecular characterization of the Borrelia spirochetes found in MD patients is warranted. (Source)

Latest Scientific Findings Announced by The Charles E. Holman Foundation Show that a Spirochete is Associated with Controversial Disease.

The latest in a series of scientific investigations of the illness known as Morgellons Disease has been published January 28, 2013 by the prestigious journal F1000 Research. The newest paper, “Association of spirochetal infection with Morgellons disease” is the fourth in a series of related publications by veterinary microbiologist Marianne J. Middelveen from Calgary, Alberta, Canada and Internist Raphael B. Stricker from San Francisco, CA. Their international co-authors include Divya Burugu, Akhila Poruri and Dr. Eva Sapi from the Department of Biology and Environmental Science, University of New Haven, West Haven, CT; Jennie Burke, Director, Australian Biologics, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Dr. Peter Mayne, Internist/Dermatologist of Laurieton, NSW, Australia; and Dr. Douglas Kahn, Pathologist, Olive View-UCLA Medical Center in Sylmar, CA.

This newest publication more fully explores the nature of the distinctive filaments/fibers unique to Morgellons Disease. Through the use of histological staining, immunofluorescent staining, electron microscopic imaging and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic testing, further evidence was revealed of the involvement of a spirochete, Borrelia, in the etiology/pathogenesis of this emerging illness. Furthermore, motile spirochetes identified as Borrelia grew in culture medium inoculated with patient dermatological specimens.

“These latest scientific findings supporting an infectious cause of Morgellons disease should put to rest any claims that the lesions of this bizarre skin disease are either self-induced or that people suffering from this illness are delusional,” said Dr. Stricker. Cindy Casey-Holman, RN, Exec. Dir. of the Charles E Holman Foundation (CEHF) further underscored the significance of these findings by stating, “Evidence is amassing that Morgellons Disease, is a very real emerging infectious illness of major public health concern, contrary to the published conclusions of the CDC/Kaiser paper of Jan 2012. These new findings provide solid evidence repudiating the CDC’s flawed attempt to investigate Morgellons disease.” (Source)

Research into Morgellons continues in many countries around the world. The UK, Australia and Canada are all conducting research aimed at finding the cause of this debilitating disease.