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Morgellons Disease: The Results Are In

by Brian Dunning, Feb 02 2012

About a year and a half ago, I learned most of what I know about Morgellons Disease while spending a week researching a Skeptoid episode on the subject. It’s a bizarre condition in which sufferers believe that their skin is extruding strange fibers; sometimes colored, sometimes synthetic, always strange. Doctors and psychiatrists have compared it to delusional parasitosis, where imagined parasites are crawling in and on the skin.

Morgellons was invented (it would not be accurate to say diagnosed) in 2001, by a mom whose toddler son developed an unremarkable raw patch on his chin. When the scab collected fibers — almost certainly from the environment — she believed that they were being extruded from his skin. She took him to doctor after doctor, looking for one who would confirm her belief, but none would. A consensus rose among the doctors that she suffered from Munchausen by Proxy, in which an individual thrives on attention from doctors through presenting a family member as an extraordinary medical case. Reports are that she tried eight different doctors, and when none agreed with her claim, she coined the term Morgellons disease. An active community of Morgellons sufferers has grown worldwide ever since.

The general feeling among the medical profession (and with which I agree, based on my research) is that most of the patients who have self-diagnosed with Morgellons are suffering from acute stress or other psychiatric conditions. Among the many possible physical manifestations of acute stress is skin sores. The sufferer scratches, causing scabs. Environmental fibers become caught in the scab. Combined with other highly uncomfortable symptoms, and a bit of Internet research, the fibers convince the sufferer that Morgellons is the cause. It is noteworthy that prior to Morgellons’ appearance on the Internet in 2001, there were no reports of a strange disease in which the body extrudes colorful plastic fibers.

In accordance with public pressure to investigate Morgellons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated a large-scale investigation of the reports, to determine whether a new medical condition had indeed been discovered. As noted in my Skeptoid episode, the CDC’s latest news was reported on a special web page, http://www.cdc.gov/unexplaineddermopathy/. Sufferers were able to keep up on the latest research.

And now, on January 25, 2012, the CDC has released its results. In short, they found no physiological cause, and that nearly all sufferers also reported other conditions considered to be psychogenic. An accurate summary of their findings is that the patients who believe their body is extruding fibers are wrong, the fibers come from elsewhere (cotton was the most common composition detected), and the condition is delusional (my words, not the CDC’s). The study, reported in PLoS ONE, concluded:

To our knowledge, this represents the most comprehensive, and the first population-based, study of persons who have symptoms consistent with the unexplained dermopathy referred to as Morgellons. We were not able to conclude based on this study whether this unexplained dermopathy represents a new condition, as has been proposed by those who use the term Morgellons, or wider recognition of an existing condition such as delusional infestation, with which it shares a number of clinical and epidemiologic features. We found little on biopsy that was treatable, suggesting that the diagnostic yield of skin biopsy, without other supporting clinical evidence, may be low. However, we did find among our study population co-existing conditions for which there are currently available therapies (drug use, somatization). These data should assist clinicians in tailoring their diagnostic and treatment approaches to patients who may be affected. In the absence of an established cause or treatment, patients with this unexplained dermopathy may benefit from receipt of standard therapies for co-existing medical conditions and/or those recommended for similar conditions such delusions infestation.

How will this news be received by the Morgellons community? Predictably, the findings will be rejected, in favor of their desired theory that an actual disease agent is present. There will most likely be claims of a Big Pharma conspiracy, or charges that doctors are afraid of discovering new conditions that “rock the boat” or conflict with “mainstream dogma”.

But the true problem is that many such patients will continue to go untreated, due to their hostility toward a psychiatric diagnosis which (in my experience) they misinterpret as “calling them crazy”. After all — they reason — the fibers are there, real, and physical; how could it just be psychological? Acute stress and other psychiatric conditions can be highly disabling and can cause physiological symptoms. No one is “calling them crazy”; it’s simply a different diagnosis than the one they prefer.

Even assuming the CDC’s findings are correct, they will likely have very little impact helping the sufferers. And that’s the real tragedy of Morgellons.

57 Responses to “Morgellons Disease: The Results Are In”

  1. Nathaniel Brottingham says:

    It’s Münchausen, not Munchausen. (Which matters, because the pronunciation would have been completely different without the ¨.)
    Otherwise, good article.

    • Nyar says:

      In English we don’t use umlauts, except in the names of heavy metal bands.

    • Brian Dunning says:

      That’s all right – I have an extremely poor reputation for my pronunciation of foreign words, so we might as well add typing of foreign characters to that as well. :-) :-)

      • Jasper Teal says:

        But in German, there’s a standard conversion to non-accented character systems. Simply convert an umlaut-vowel to the vowel plus ‘e’ (and the ß character to ‘ss’). So it would be Muenchhausen. Germans often write it that way themselves, on electronic devices.

  2. Max says:

    “No one is calling them crazy”

    No, just delusional. Why would they interpret that as crazy?

    “In short, they found no physiological cause, and that nearly all sufferers also reported other conditions considered to be psychogenic.”

    The paper doesn’t say “psychogenic” anywhere, so I assume it’s your words again, not theirs. Do you still think that “the true causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome are well understood“?

    So your argument is that they didn’t find a physiological cause, so it must be psychological. Tell that to the cervical cancer patients who were first told that it’s all in their heads.
    http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/sebin/i/t/4E7A8F853E3664E4CDB181EF051A0346.pdf

    The one actual finding in the CDC study was that the fibers were consistent with cotton and nylon. Previously, it was reported that “The fibers had no cuts or extrusion marks that would establish them as man-made and no internal structures such as cell walls that would make the case for natural origin. The fibers did not lose their color in any solvents or detergents. At 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, they did not burn.” As I understand, fiber forensics is not an exact science.

    • Chris says:

      CFS and cervical cancer, etc., are completely irrelevant to whether or not Morgellons is pathogenic. Your citation of them in this context is a fallacy, along the lines of every mediocre painter out there who says ‘Van Gogh was ignored in his time too.’ The study found no evidence that Morgellons was pathogenic.

    • feralboy12 says:

      But there is one thing forensics experts agree on: white cotton fibers are freaking everywhere.

  3. tmac57 says:

    Personally,I would much rather that any medical complaint that I suddenly developed,turn out to be psychogenic/somatic rather than an actual physical disorder.I guess I’m just ‘crazy’ that way.

  4. Max – your characterization is misleading.

    The study does report that the condition is believed by many doctors to be “delusional parasitosis”. While they were careful to keep a neutral tone throughout, for obvious reasons, they also concluded that many of the cases they examined had high features of “somaticization” – which means manifesting psychological stress with physical symptoms – a form of psychogenic illness.

    Further, they recommend that “patients with this unexplained dermopathy may benefit from receipt of standard therapies for co-existing medical conditions and/or those recommended for similar conditions such delusions infestation.”

    They found that there was no evidence or pattern suggestive of an infection or inflammatory process, or toxic process. The biopsy finding were consistent with trauma from obsessive scratching. The fibers were mostly cotton. The epidemiology and heterogeneity were consistent with a psychological disorder.

    All of the information gathered in this extensive study found no evidence of a distinct pathological disorder, and everything is consistent with a delusional disorder.

    While the authors are being appropriately cautious is saying their study does not prove a specific answer, the evidence overwhelmingly points to one answer, which they recommend might be the best treatment option – a delusional disorder.

    • tmac57 says:

      I would put it in a simpler form: Whenever you hear hoof beats,think horses,not unicorns.

    • Max says:

      The study says patients had “clinically significant somatic complaints.” It doesn’t say psychosomatic. Their conclusion parenthetically mentions “somatization,” but where’s the proof that the cause is mental? Just the failure to find a physiological cause?

      Even if the sores and fibers are from scratching, how do they prove that the itching is psychogenic?

      Too often “psychogenic illness” is just a convenient and virtually unfalsifiable non-explanation that stifles further inquiry, sort of like god of the gaps. Occasionally, it does get ruled out, not by a psychiatrist mind you, but when the patient is finally diagnosed with MS, Lyme disease, celiac disease, pituitary tumor, or even cervical cancer after years of going from doctor to dismissive doctor.

      • terry the censor says:

        > The study says patients had “clinically significant somatic complaints.”

        So do many hysterics.

        Your parsing focuses on “somatic” without considering the word “complaint.”

        “somatic complaints” does not necessarily mean “medically verified illness,” but you act as if it does.

      • gdave says:

        @Max:

        What evidence, if any, would convince you that Morgellon’s is a psychogenic illness? What is missing from the studies so far that should be there?

      • Max says:

        If all cases could be cured with placebos, hypnosis, or stress relief, that would be convincing.
        What’s missing in the CDC study is intervention.

        I also want to see a test that can rule out psychogenic illness in patients that don’t have it (i.e. has high specificity). I’m skeptical of diagnosis by exclusion, because it sounds like god of the gaps.

      • tmac57 says:

        On the other hand,you can’t really make a diagnosis of Morgellon’s, when it has never been established that it even exists.
        As it is,it is like the people who try to describe what species Big Foot is,when no one has proven that there is such a thing as Big Foot.People keep showing ‘evidence’ in the form of fur,footprints,and fuzzy videos,but when these things are examined,they always have more common explanations.

  5. John K. says:

    After finding fibers in a scab or in your skin, what a bizarre conclusion it is to decide the skin is extruding them. It seems along the lines of unexpectedly finding ink on you hands and deciding you are bleeding it out.

    How very, very, strange.

    • bobco85 says:

      John K., your comment got me thinking: does anyone attribute belly button lint to Morgellon’s Disease? Save for nudist colonies (and outies?), I am pretty sure it would be a global pandemic!

      • Dustin K. says:

        Oh man, that’s why my lint is always blue! Its being extruded from my belly-button, not collecting off my clothes! (Seriously, why is it blue at least 95% of the time, unless I’m in a bright red t-shirt?!)

    • Max says:

      Do patients with other itchy skin diseases like scabies also find fibers embedded in their sores?

      • gdave says:

        Just an anecdote, but many years ago, I developed a sore on my hip. I found fibers in it on more than one occasion. It was actually a bit difficult to keep it clean and keep fibers from my underwear (or the bandage covering it!) and other debris out of it.

      • Citizen Wolf says:

        They find mites. Mites are the cause of scabies. People with scabies and without a psychogenic disorder aren’t looking for fibers.

        Perhaps people with psychogenic disorders who also have scabies might well find that they have fibers in their sores, because they’re looking for them.

      • Rob says:

        I remember vividly, as a child, pulling on the fibres embedded in my many scabs to pull them off. Painful as all hell but fun!

    • R de Champlain says:

      Hello Mr J.K…Happy to read you having an open mind who is ready to have a reflexion for something so strange that it appears to be foolish. May I suggest you, for scientific info, to look for: Owing the weather in 2025. Sure you’ll be curious to learn even more;and visit Carnicom Institute, multi-scientist, if I can qualify Him this way. Into this blog,ask for more than 120 publications on the subject since 1990 offering clear and pictured labs on the beginning and the refusal by Us. and Nasa to every of his legal demands. I am a I.L. or was, being now more 80 and been told: it’s all in the head. I have 2 certificates from psychia.telling I am brilliant and still always studying at university as hobby. May this help……Happy Chrismas and New Year 2013. Be blessed…Billie, grand-grand mother, interested to share

  6. Janet Camp says:

    Why did the woman choose the name Morgellons?

    • Brian Dunning says:

      The word morgellons is French and comes from an old reference to black hairs, whether from a true or fictional story I don’t remember. I believe Mary Leitao (the originator of the condition) came across the term while researching what she believed her son’s condition was.

  7. Ken says:

    Janet @6: It’s from an English report from the 1600s that she thought sounded similar, with fibers or hairs coming out of the body. Except those patients died.

    Orac of Respectful Insolence (at scienceblogs) reported on the CDC study a few days ago. From the comments, a common symptom is a refusal to believe that the fibers are a delusion. That’s unfortunate since the mental condition is often treatable with medications.

    There are nonetheless some quacks who are telling people the fibers are a real disease and of course selling cures. Their reinforcement may be contributing to the rise in the disease, although it is mostly spread by the Internet.

    The comments have attracted a few people with the condition, if you’d like to see what it can be like and how at least some sufferers have reacted to the CDC report.

    • Carl says:

      @Ken, the fibers are not delusional. They’re quite real detritus from the environment. Believing they’re growing out of your body sure seems to be delusional, however.

      • Ken says:

        Yes, that is correct, sorry for the imprecision.

        Another comment at Respectful Insolence said that there are a few doctors who want to make “Morgellons” an alternate term for delusional parasitosis, just so when they get a patient with the condition they can say “Ah, yes, you have Morgellons[1]. Fortunately we now have a cure, here is a prescription for an antihistamine[2] that should produce some improvement, and I’m referring you to a specialist[3] who will follow-up once they start to work.”

        The numbers mark a few phrases that wouldn’t actually be said, but which the doctor will be thinking:

        [1] “just as you self-diagnosed from the internet”
        [2] “which also happens to be an anti-psychotic”
        [3] “who is a licensed psychiatrist and can adjust the meds and maybe do something about the root cause”

        (I’m probably seeming crabby, but it’s the combination of a treatable illness, the refusal of the patient to accept the diagnosis and treatment, and the quacks feeding their delusion in order to sell their snake-oil that gets me angry.)

  8. Tobias says:

    This just in! Brian Dunning (or spoken backwards: Money hoarding puppet (rough translation from my native language)) is on a tight leach held by the CDC. There is no evidence saying that the CDC and pharmaceutical companies did not conspire to keep the sheople subdued! Strike one!
     
    BD implies in-between statements that the fibers need to be of silicone based structure to not be the causative agent of M. disease. The contrary has been shown, he said so himself. Murein polymers are easily mistaken for cotton fibers by the average pathologist, especially so if there is an incentive to draw that conclusion. This is common knowledge by those who know it. Strike two!
     
    Furthermore, the stress observed in these individuals is clearly a secondary symptom pertaining to the severity of the disease. A common cold give little stress, a full blown lobotomy a lot more before cured. The stress is the smoking gun of an actual disease! Strike three!
     
    I urge the real scientists to disengage from the shackles of delusion and embark on a voyage of truth on this sea of ignorance. If but one reaches the shoreline of enlightenment on the other side, it would be worth it.

    • steelsheen11b says:

      Tobias your “voyage of truth” has foundered on the shoals of personal attack, opinion for proof and conspiracy thinking. Further you threw common sense and reality out of the way like an Italian boat captain on the way to the life raft. It wasn’t even a particularly inspired rant sport, it might be time to change the tin foil your receptors are clogged badly.

    • tmac57 says:

      Clearly the lobotomy cure has failed.

      • Tobias says:

        Indeed, if seasoned sceptics can be moved so easily, I might have a future in CAM.

      • tmac57 says:

        Yes,it is tempting when you begin to fully understand the malleability of human perception to want to take advantage of it.Damned ethics!!!

    • Please note the correct spelling is LEASH. I am on a tight LEASH held by the CDC.

  9. sailor says:

    “The study does report that the condition is believed by many doctors to be “delusional parasitosis”.
    I had a friend who was diagnosed with that (drug and alcohol induced) by one of the top tropical medicine doctors in the UK. One of the worms he felt running around eventually (and in great agony for him) came out of his eye. Turns out he had fileriasis.
    I am reminded of Neil De Grass Tysons’s comment which went something like this: So you have person who is diagnosed with terminal cancer by two doctors. They don’t die, so claim it is a miracle. Which is more likely: Supernatural intervention or two bad doctor?
    There may be underlying non psychological reasons for some of these cases, though obviously growing cotton and stuff out of the skin is a mistaken conclusion.

    • gdave says:

      @Sailor:

      There may be underlying physical reasons for these cases. But the researchers who conducted this study looked for such, and didn’t find any. Of course, just by random chance, at least a few people prone to delusional parasitosis will have a purely physical condition resulting in open sores. And, of course, they should be treated for the physical condition – but they should also be treated for the delusional condition.

      Please also note that your friend was diagnosed with one well-established(but in this case wrongly attributed) medical condition while he really was suffering from a different well-established medical condition. Morgellon’s sufferers are claiming that they are being diagnosed with a well-established medical condition when they are “really” suffering from a different condition which has not been scientifically established to exist – which in fact the study discussed above (among others) specifically looked for evidence of and (like others) failed to find. They are not claiming that doctors are mis-attributing their symptoms – they are claiming that doctors are missing the existence of an entire medical syndrome.

      • Max says:

        Many people experience non-specific symptoms like fatigue, fever, flu-like symptoms, and headaches, which can be caused by any number of things from lack of sleep to cancer. Doctors focus on ruling out the worst-case scenarios, and once they do that, they just treat the symptoms without taking the time to figure out the root cause. Patients are then left to figure out the cause themselves, and end up associating their symptoms with EMFs, gluten, skin fibers, etc. But even if their self-diagnosis is off base, it doesn’t mean their symptoms are psychosomatic.

      • tmac57 says:

        Do you accept that there are some people who have psychogenic illness,or do you reject the idea altogether? I think that we can all agree that some people can have an illness with a real physical cause,that could be misdiagnosed as psychogenic.And, so called, Morgellons sufferers may have a common skin problem,but their fixation won’t allow them to accept that diagnosis.
        The practice of medicine is not always cut and dried.

  10. Janet Camp says:

    Thanks for the responses–and ensuing discussion–to my question. I like the idea of turning the name Morgellon Disease into a description of the real problem these people suffer from, but it would probably just cause more confusion ultimately.

  11. Phil says:

    Come on people. What is more likely, fibers getting stuck in a sore or wound or the body extruding man made fibers? We already know stress can cause or exacerbate skin conditions. That is not the same as saying you’re imagining things.

  12. Beelzebud says:

    It’s like a bad X-Files episode. Incoherent plot, bad actors, and the absence of Mulder and Skully.

  13. Googuy777 says:

    It must be nice to sit back in your “non-Morgellon skin” and make a diagnosis of those who are hurting and suffering with this disease. I would, that all who have called the victims “crazy” will have a taste of this internal parasite that is probably a man-made GMO off-shoot, with agrobacterium as the catalyst that’s bonding the DNA of God only knows what, to our human bodies. The Morgellons victims have a brain fog that rivals any other. The GMO foods/GMO cotton pesticides are most likely why we are experiencing all these “syndromes.” This disease is all over China (by a different name.)

    If you ask me, the doctors are crazy. They take an oath to do no harm and yet they are allowing people to suffer, because they are afraid of the unknown. Most doctors do not even take the time to really examine these people. What we have here is scary and we need to open out eyes before it’s effecting more than a million people worldwide! Please see the research Randy Wymore has done.

    Could this problem be caused by the government spraying (chemtrails) of chemicals or nano-tubes/wires filled with tracking devices? Is this simply a bad GMO accident, where the organism morphed into more than it’s supposed to? The GMO companies give millions to political parties. Is this biological warfare?

    In any case, we need to find out what this is and stop ignoring what’s real…out of fear and ignorance.

    It is obvious that the person who has written this article has no first-hand experience with the physiological samples from people who have this disease. There are also the same physiological evidences in the environment and it seems to be a nano, manmade parasite, that can enter the skin and set up shop in the human body. I have observed it closely and seen it grow many times. The fibers are only a biproduct of this parasite, when it really takes hold. I believe it to be from the GMO world and it should be called the GMO disease or GMOD…not Morgellons. According to the Morgellons Site, the largest segment of professionals to have this disease is nurses. People who had AIDS were thought to be crazy as well and there are far too many people who keep getting this disease. They do not create it in their heads. They have the symptoms and begin to look on the web after doctors have tried to help them and they find out the horror of what they really have. Please look at the evidence before you post such nonsense. This is real and we had better get going before it’s too far gone. I fear it already has gone too far and we are fools to ignore this one. I assure you, just as those who were skeptics of HIV, so will you eat your words. If this GMO, nano technology bug keeps evolving and we ignore it, God help us. Please, wake up America!

    • Randy B says:

      googuy777, you’re almost there. Find a way to work in “quantum” and you’ll have achieved a technobabble hat-trick!

    • xtranombre says:

      Wow, googuy777, that has to be one of the best parodies of a conspiracy rant I’ve seen in … well, one or two message boards. You got it all in there-
      Dismissal of experts in favor of your own ‘researcher,’ GMO, pesticides, corporations, dismissal of the medical profession as uncaring, nano, comparisons to acutal disease vectors like HIV, AND a call to ‘look at the evidence’ and ‘wake up.’
      If I didn’t know better, I’d swear you really were one a conspiracy nut who could be easily dismissed because of your reliance on logical fallacies, and unwillingness to actually consider legitimate evidence in favor of woo.
      Oh, wait, that was a parody right?

  14. arjun says:

    I know for a fact this is a real disease. I have collected pustules from a patient with the disease and spread it to all my friends and relatives that i dislike. Now I am collecting fibers from them and will soon have enough to make a sweater, after which i will post a picture of it on YouTube. If all goes smoothly i will infect even more people and make a fortune from the garments i will be making to show all you skeptics how wrong you are!!! [Do i need to clearly state whether or not this is a joke?]

  15. cockyLady says:

    goodguy777
    First off, how cool would it be if we could transfer genetic information to a subject by merely ingesting it? Here’s the thing; The GMO’s that we eat are made with the help of the agrobacterium of which you speak (agro- agriculture). When we want to alter, say, a mammal, we usually use a virus to get genetic info where we want it to go. Knockout mice are a good example. In order to genetically modify these mice, we have to do so during the embryonic stage, so that the genetic information is incorporated into every cell (except maybe germ cell, correct me if i’m wrong). If we were able to, say, incorporate the desired genetic material into said mice through some diet we could supply them, that would be friggin awesome!

    PS:
    xtranombre- you forgot brain fog
    arjun- one sweater please

    PPS:
    Correct me if my sci is unworthy!

    Hugs & leaches,
    -cockyLady

  16. danser says:

    Morgellons Disease Reversal

    How long have you had Morgellons symptoms?

    The answer really does not matter. What matters is reversing them. We have found a way to eliminate your Morgellons symptoms in about 4 weeks using a natural mineral. What might you expect?
    This is what you should expect;

    week one;

    Your energy begins to return
    Your brain-fog begins to evaporate
    You can see better
    You can think clearer
    You see “debris’ leaving your body

    week two;

    If you have lesions, they begin to harden around the edges
    The biting and scratching begins to subside
    Your movement in your scalp starts to go away
    You notice less fibers
    The black specs disappear

    week three;

    Your lesions harden even further, some begin to fall off entirely
    The biting and scratching is almost gone
    Say good-bye to your depression
    Your mood improves

    week four;

    Your lesions have mostly fallen off and do not return
    Your clarity of thought astounds you
    Nearly all of your Morgellons symptoms are gone
    You life is your own again
    You feel like ‘you’ again

    Is this a pipe-dream, or is it real?

    We have been helping Morgellons sufferers for over 5 years and those who stayed with the program and followed the instructions are mostly symptom-free now. Once you obtain this level of relief, you seriously reduce how much NutraSilver you take to a minimum of about 15 drops, twice per day.

    That’s it! You are done! Now it is time to return to your normal life without being accused by the medical profession of being delusional, without the feeling of hopelessness and without the debilitating brain-fog that stole your life.
    Congratulations! Your Morgellons nightmare is over!

    NutraSilver, in FDA-certified independent lab test has shown to kill every pathogens we have tested both quickly and safely. WE are so sure that NutraSilver will reverse your Morgellons symptoms, we guarantee it for 60 days from the date we shipped it to you. No questions asked. Why doesn’t your Doctor of Pharmacist offer such a guarantee? You know the answer and so do we. End your Morgellons suffering now. There is no need to suffer even one more day.

    • Syd Foster says:

      That sounds like a much more reasonable approach to helping delusional patients than just telling them they are on their own because it’s a self-misdiagnosed situation they are in…. placebo!

      Which should of course be offered free… as it would be here in the UK, thanks to our National Health Service….

  17. JG Akers says:

    With only a few minutes of searching, anyone can find compelling testimony and compelling alleged evidence to support this as possible and real disease, one that does not fit our current scientific classification.

    Recent studies by veterinary microbiologists and MD’s have found that the Morgellons fibers are composed of a keratin like material formed from the bodies own damaged Keritinocytes. Much like when cows get Bovine digital dermatitis.

    How about Dr. Randy Wymore, a respected UC Davis trained scientist working at Oklahoma State, announcing 5 years ago that the fibers found in Morgellons sufferers are made of no known man-made textile. If this is true, it would be highly illogical and improbable to suggest that 10’s of thousands of reported case sufferers, across the US and worldwide , have all coincidentally taken a never before seen textile like substance, and self inserted it into horrible flesh wounds to mask a mental illness with a physical one?
    I dare someone to show the logical pathology of how thousands of people could all possibly discover the same unknown substance, and have the same delusional motive to harmfully insert it in their own bodies, all to cover up the same rare mental illness that they all allegedly have?

    The CDC still calls this an “Unexplained Dermopathy”, a skin affliction with no explanation by their own definition. Yet, they recommend that people MAY benefit from treatments for a delusional illness.

    Writing off Morgellons as an epidemic of mental illness seems to be an epedemic of denial and is the most delusional thing I’ve heard yet. It is also one big damn chance to be taking

    • R de Champlain says:

      Hello Mr J.G.Akers, do you know: you hit the jackpot? If you please read : Owing the weather on 2025 and refer you to: Carnicom Institute.org you will be confort with what you wrote. Having an open mind = aiming success. congra…Billie,nurse,eighty (more) still studying, three generations after…

  18. tina says:

    Are the results in?
    You might want to hold your horses speedy. The notion that Morgellons exists only in the minds of the sufferers is very old news. Follow the link then answer my question “how does that crow taste?”
    http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/1/prweb10299034.htm

  19. R de Champlain says:

    hello again, every skeptics, you have to think of only one thing into what you suppose we imagine: we, sufferers, breathe, drink, eat, wash body and clothes and everything else needed for living; we did not choose to get this affliction, neither the ones with cancer or other diseases…but..ignoring us, not searching really to help to cure us, as for other emergent, modern diseases, think we are contaminating you, all others, the phreatic material with beings proven immortal(until other study proves contrary…what I hope) . Aren’t you afraid for you and your children?…We are, not only for us, like those who had leprae,spanish flu,radiations…we know that we will possibly and almost certainly die without care. That do not open the switch on a simple doubt? Here are modern technologies with every positive and negative possibilities as bonus. I wish all of you, so alert to ban our dolor, without being experiencing it, never been suffering this way,I wish too, for you and the following generations after, you find control of all those horrors that will appear. Sorry, my English not perfect. Be blessed………Billie, g-ma expecting the best for every and all children to come.

  20. Told-ya-so says:

    Every day more proof of morgellons comes forward and more DR’s are speaking up about it.The U.S. seems to be one of few countries that are not researching this like it should be. I guess thatthat’s because we are all too smart and already know everything to learn anything. So now the delusional ones are looking like the only ones with their eyes open. The ones who claimed they were delusional, well just keep your eyes closed and pretend you know everything. You probably wouldn’t want to see my look of disgust at the wasted time that could have been spent doing more research to find definitive cause and cure for this very real disease.

  21. Openofmind says:

    It’s funny how all the closed minded skeptics stopped commenting after there was one reference to a scientist who found this unidentified material.

    If you think it’s just the opinion of only conspiracy nutters and I know you all only believe traditional sources (mass media and the medical sources). Then please do more research, there are scientists, doctors and other professionals who claim this disease to be true.

    There is even abc coverage which has both sides.Scientists and doctors who state this is a real baffling disease. Of course there is the paid off denialist doctor but you have to expect that.

    The common problem you skeptics have in your criticial thinking is truly evalutaing a source of information. Who paid for the study? What do they have to gain? Don’t believe everything you read in the papers. Another major problem is you trust your government.