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U.S. to Study Bizarre Medical Condition

hosted.ap.org — It sounds like a freakish ailment from a horror movie: Sores erupt on your skin, mysterious threads pop out of them, and you feel like tiny bugs are crawling all over you.

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  • jd33, on 01/17/2008, -4/+53It's never Lupus.
    • fluidfoundation, on 01/17/2008, -7/+17ITS NOT LUPUS.
      • LmaoTzu, on 01/17/2008, -12/+3BROS B4 HOS, MAN!
      • UnWeave, on 01/17/2008, -7/+6Why is it that, at of time of writing, you have one more digg than the OP for repeating WHAT the OP said? Ahh, I love digg.
        • fluidfoundation, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2Wow.... you've never seen House I guess.
    • RobLiefeld, on 01/17/2008, -0/+12It's not Morgellons either. They're really nano-tech machines that got loose. They continue to replicate and form worm-like structure thoughout the body. They probably just need a good EMP blast to kill them.
      • RobLiefeld, on 01/17/2008, -12/+2From a reliable source:
        A communicable nanotechnology invasion of human tissues in the form of self-assembling, self-replicating nanotubes, nanowires, nanoarrays with sensors, and other nano configurations, some carrying genetically-altered and spliced DNA/RNA.
        These nano machines thrive in alkaline ph conditions and use the body's bio-electric energy and other (unidentified) elements for power. There is some evidence these tiny machines possess their own internal batteries. They are also believed to be able to receive specific tuned microwave, EMF and ELF signals and information. To what end is not known.
        The symptoms vary from open skin lesions from which colored or plain fibers emerge, which do not scab normally, heal extremely slowly and never become bacterially-infected -- to brain fog, fatigue and depression, etc. It is also established that Morgellons nano machines are commonly found in all body fluids, orifices and often even hair follicles, and are believed to routinely achieve total body systemic penetration.
        It is reported by nearly all afflicted that Morgellons nano machines seem to have some kind of hive or 'group intelligence.' Communicability appears to be possible/probable through shedding of the fibers by the infected and through all normal bacterial or viral vectors.
        Some fibers have been shown to withstand temperatures in excess of 1400 F, routine sterilization for Morgellons nano machines in all reusable medical/dental medical equipment and instruments is moot. There is also strong evidence linking Chemtrail aerosol fibers to Morgellons fibers although proof of Transmission through aerial spraying remains anecdotal.
        • wiggles, on 01/17/2008, -0/+12Do you realize the technology that would be required to do something like that? We are nowhere near that point yet -- and won't be for at least 20 years. Back away from the computer, get back in your bunker, put on the tinfoil hat, and wait for the apocalypse, while leaving everyone else alone.
        • Ramble, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4Are you joking?
        • noahhoward, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5A reliable source that you can't name?
          • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4He'd have to kill you if he told you that.
        • mightydavefish, on 01/17/2008, -3/+2You may be a good artist, but you talk some ridiculous crap.
          (See how I gave you that backhanded compliment?)
          • positron, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4I dugg you down because 1) digg user RobLiefeld is a known troll, and 2) the real Rob Liefeld is NOT a good artist.
        • Protector, on 01/17/2008, -0/+1*headdesk*
      • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+11If you are being funny, that's amusing.
        If you're serious, you are insane and need help.

        PS: Please cite the "reliable" source.
      • cdahlkvist, on 01/17/2008, -7/+7Morgellons is a bunch of BS.

        The people that claim to suffer from it only suffer from psychosis and hypochondria. These people need psychiatric help, not physical help.
        • noahhoward, on 01/17/2008, -6/+1Right which perfectly explains the pictures and the fact that the CDC is studying it. They're the CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL not Mythbusters, they don't investigate something without credible reasons to do so.
          • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+10They are investigating it because a huge number of people are claiming that it exist.

            The CDC does function as mythbusters at times and they often do studies to determine if something is real or not.
          • kooft, on 01/17/2008, -0/+6FTA: "Pearson suggested the [CDC] study will help determine if Morgellons is the same as delusional parasitosis or something new."

            Which means the CDC only knows that a lot of people are complaining about something (something that Dr.'s can't find) and they're trying to determine whether or not it's a mental disorder or a biological disease. Just because they're investigating it doesn't mean that it exists (i.e., they _are_ 'mythbusting').
          • Terr01, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5Are you a habitual contrarian?

            The CDC is not studying "what causes this disease".
            The CDC is studying "Is this a real disease or just psychological".
    • kcap122, on 01/17/2008, -0/+7Goddamn it Otto, you have lupus.
      • bbendele, on 01/17/2008, -1/+6Alchoholism is the only disease you can get yelled at for having.
        • Coffeedemon, on 01/17/2008, -2/+8IMO its called a disease to absolve the ones who have it from personal responsibility.
          • YogiWanKenobi, on 01/17/2008, -2/+1If I could digg you up twice I would
          • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2Yeah these days poor self control is a disease.
          • OverlordXenu, on 01/17/2008, -1/+5So if someone is addicted to crack, that's not a disease?

            What?

            Addiction is a disease. Just because they started it doesn't mean they shouldn't get help. Usually alcoholism starts because of psychological issues, or genetic predisposition.
    • sporg, on 01/17/2008, -2/+14After reading many articles about this "disease" I have come to the conclusion that it is FAKE and people claiming to have it are delusional. There is basically zero proof of any of the symptoms and that the pictures of supposedly affected areas are clearly just places where the lunatics have been scratching at themselves obsessively. Watch a few videos of the "victims" its sad really that these people are this desperate for attention.
      • mightydavefish, on 01/17/2008, -0/+12I've been really curious about Morgellon's for years, and I have to agree.
        I've read the personal sites of people who claim to have it, but there is never any compelling evidence of any kind, and usually those sites only convince me of the delusion of the owners.
        But it must really suck to think you are ill and have no one take you seriously.
      • evodude, on 01/17/2008, -2/+6What's even sadder is that money, which could be used to study real diseases, is being wasted on these delusional people.
        • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -0/+5"These delusional people" either have a new physical or parasitic condition, or they have a serious psychological condition. Either way, it is keeping them from having a normal, happy life.

          Why in the world would you think that a scientific study that could bring them back to health, no matter what the source of the condition, is wasted money?
    • ohcoaster, on 01/17/2008, -0/+14Sorry to jump in here, but as a cyclist who gets road rash every so often, i've experienced this "disease" first hand. Open sores, whatever the cause, tend to be wet initially, from puss or blood, but will eventually dry into a scab. When the sore dries, it bonds with whatever is covering it. If that's a fuzzy sweater or something, chances are fuzz from the sweater will become permanently embedded in the scrape, and it looks just like it's growing out of the sore. A person with a mental illness could easily believe this, where a normal person would put two and two together and realize it's their sweater.
  • fluidfoundation, on 01/17/2008, -2/+19Angeldust?
  • VeniceCA, on 01/17/2008, -5/+17It's called morgellons or morgellons disease.
  • Goodanswer, on 01/17/2008, -3/+13Next up at the top of the Hour, Human knits own sweater out of mysterious fibers.
  • rmd34, on 01/17/2008, -3/+22Never heard of this before...

    According to http://www.schmoo.co.uk/morgellons.htm
    There are currently over 1,100 hundred known cases in the U.S., mostly in Texas, Florida and California of what is being called 'Morgellons', and it is spreading. // A victim in California Dillon King committed suicide because he could not stand the feeling of bugs crawling under his skin any longer. His mother is quoted: "The hardest thing was seeing him just get worse all the time". // Evidence is beginning to mount linking Morgellons to Lyme Disease which can be caught from tick bites.

    This site believes it's a conspiracy issue: http://morgellonswatch.com/

    This site really doesn't say anything... http://www.morgellons.org/ but they do have a number of stories from sufferers: http://www.morgellons.org/stories.htm
    • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -5/+11A friend's wife has this. Their doctor had no idea what it was until this hit the news a couple years ago. It really is an odd disease. Sad thing is most doctors have been saying it's not real for a long time now. About time it gets some serious attention.
      • tinselt0wn, on 01/17/2008, -9/+10its obviously real, its all in her mind. At a certain point, when youre scratching yourself so much, its just a self-perpetuating condition
        • pendrachken, on 01/17/2008, -2/+18Thank you Doctor Digg, Now i got this strange pimple like thing on my ass can you take a look at that too?


          Sheesh, whats up with EVERYONE thinking they know more than DOCTORS? Doctors can't even agree if it is a mental or physical condition yet.
          • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3Doctors do think it's Delusional parasitosis, the nurses that think that they know more than doctors are the ones perpetuating this myth.
        • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -2/+2Nice. That smells like it came out of your ass.
    • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -5/+15Not a conspiracy issue, but a mental disease that makes them think they have this illness. And if you've done any research on the topic, you'll see that the more news coverage this thing gets, the more people claim to have it. Sometimes I have a bad itch, but I don't think bugs are under my skin. That's the difference between a sane person and someone who 'has' morgellons.
      • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -2/+13These "threads" are often fibers from their clothing.
        There is no objective findings on this 'disease', skin biopsies look normal.
        I doubt this is anything more than a psychiatric problem.
        • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -1/+5From what I've read, the 'threads' are simply cotton. And considering how most bandages contain cotton, finding cotton in a wound is the furthest thing from odd I've ever heard.
        • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5I've seen two patients with this 'diagnosis' and one was really distraught at his condition. I'm sure he really believed he had a problem and he had already seen a dermatologist but he was definitely picking at his wound and often without noticing it...the other person was just crazy.
          • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+12That's the problem with the sores, most people scratch itches without realizing it, and most people who think they have Morgellons openly admit to scratching their skin for HOURS, but nobody really puts 2+2 together. Scratching for hours = sores. Sores + Bandages = fiber in wounds.
      • stubadub, on 01/17/2008, -1/+6Wouldn't it make sense that the more people reported having this disease that the news coverage would increase?

        For the record, I agree that this is a mental illness issue.
        • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2The problem is, the media coverage is increasing the number of people who think they have it.
          We all have had phantom itches, and TALKING about itching makes you itchy, so people who hear about it all think they have it.
    • oxdeltaxo, on 01/17/2008, -3/+2I personally think there are just recovering addicts who have the residues of crack or meth rising to the surface of their skin, causing itching and psychological disorders.
      • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -1/+2Cancel the study everyone.
        • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2He is correct, though after the CDC finds nothing wrong, we're going to start seeing "morgellons truthers", mark my words.
    • bubbadigg, on 01/17/2008, -12/+0We have got to close the borders.... this is in California, Texas, Florida... That's what happens when you mix hispanic populations with Americans...

      Hurry, build the fence to keep the mexicans out, stop taking refugees from cuba.... we have got to put an end to this disease before it becomes a pandemic...

      Seal the borders now !!!!!!!!
    • RC212V, on 01/17/2008, -2/+10Actually I believe Dateline or 60 Minutes did a feature on the disease. They interviewed the head of the American Academy of Dermatology Association and before even looking at any of the evidence he said, "Oh, its Delusional Parasitosis". The common explanation they received from many doctors on the strange fibers was that they were from clothing. So, they took a sample and send it to the FBI national forensics lab to compare it to their database of thousands upon thousands of known fibers. They found no matches.

      The problem with ailments that are either poorly documented or not documented at all is that many doctors believe that they don't exist. Most doctors really are no more than technicians. Technicians can tackle problems they've been trained for but when they get into theoretical or experimental territory they are often ill-equipped to come up with answers. If doctors acted more like scientists the first thing they'd do is analyze the fibers. Instead, they just throw up their hands and call their patients crazy.

      Some people reporting Morgellons may actually be delusional but there's plenty of evidence to show that there is some sort of real disease out there that is affecting people. Just because we don't understand its etymology YET, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
      • Terr01, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4Why would the FBI database be rigorous for this kind of thing? Have some peopel been watching too much CSI where all the results are instant and you just press a button?
        • VitriolAndAngst, on 01/18/2008, -1/+2The FBI database has almost every known fiber in existence. If it were cotton or clothing fiber, it would show up there.
          • Terr01, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2SOURCE. Who checked what against which database, specifically?

            http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News ...
            "The threads don't match the 900 fibers or 100,000 organic compounds in the database used by Tulsa police, he said. And Morgellons symptoms don't correspond to those caused by known bacteria, fungus, viruses, parasites or worms, he said."

            That's 900 fibers from a city PD database, NOT the FBI one, which I suspect would be an expensive undertaking *somebody* would have to underwrite or authorize.
          • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1And sure as anything there are more than "900 fibers or 100,000 organic compounds" in any given area.
      • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2"So, they took a sample and send it to the FBI national forensics lab to compare it to their database of thousands upon thousands of known fibers. They found no matches."

        They being dateline, or an actual medical doctor?
    • khfn, on 01/17/2008, -1/+3Why the hell is this guy being dugg down? That's completely reasonable.
    • andshewas, on 01/17/2008, -2/+3Wow. I just finished reading the stories from the sufferers on the morgellons.org site. My heart goes out to those people...it sounds like they are living in hell. I've no medical background or anything, so I don't feel I should pass judgment as to whether this is a real disease or a psychosis. All I can say is those stories were awful. I hope doctors listen up and find out all they can on this mystery illness for the sake of those suffering.
    • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2Here is some video on the odd fibers in the tissue:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eeAPwII_6Y
      • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1Blue fabric fibers from a shirt, big deal.
    • VitriolAndAngst, on 01/18/2008, -1/+1My mother had Chronic Fatigue. Which was also supposed to be something people just think they have. She eventually was found to have a problem with an overactive immune system.

      They used to say women would just faint from irrationality. It was actually because the tight and hot corsets they used to wear. They also told a lot of military vets that their symptoms were in their head because the government didn't want to pay for all the illnesses caused by whatever crap the soldiers picked up in Iraq. People, in most cases, don't WANT to be sick, so if it is in "someone's head" -- even that has a cause that could be environmental or a disease.

      Nervous disorders themselves shouldn't be considered a natural state to be ignored. But this disease doesn't look psychological. Those wounds are not the result of infected scratching -- they are too round.
  • Waskonator, on 01/17/2008, -15/+3That movie "BUG" sucked.

    /left-field comment
  • Itazura, on 01/17/2008, -8/+23"Study participants will be drawn from Kaiser's 3.4 million health insurance customers living mainly in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas and as far south as Fresno."

    It isn't worth studying until profits are involved. Thanks America.
    • norman619, on 01/17/2008, -6/+8Which is the major flaw in a system with a profit motive.
    • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -2/+13Ummm...no. Universities can easily study this without any 'profit'. Most researchers and doctors don't believe that this is a real disease.
      • munen123, on 01/17/2008, -5/+3bull, universities dont do research without grant money, and if no one in government thinks its important, and no one in the private sector is interested it will never get studied... this really is a major flaw in systems with a profit motive.
        • simpleblob, on 01/17/2008, -0/+9Well, if noone is interested in it, why should it get studied?
          And What you think is a better system?
      • Itazura, on 01/17/2008, -6/+2Most researchers do believe its a disease, hence the reason it has a name to go with the diagnosis.
        • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -1/+6Go look up the wikipedia article on the person who gave the syndrome/disease the name. It was not a medical researcher.
          • Itazura, on 01/18/2008, -1/+1and neither was Lou Gehrig, but kinda like the stars, you don't have to have a degree in something to name it.
          • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -1/+3"and neither was Lou Gehrig"

            That's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
      • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -3/+10Let me see...five of my research colleagues have clinical trials underway from the university's research foundation on diabetes and heart disease. Chances of these studies making money, ZILCH.

        I have two studies being done by free labor(medical students) and a study I'm doing with no funding except my department's resources.

        Guess, I'm doing things wrong huh?
        • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -0/+5Look, if you're going to get all "I work in the field" and "I actually have practical experience" and "I know how things work because I'm doing them right now" in response to "bull" and "it's all about the profit motive" and "Thanks America" then I'm leaving Digg.
    • fatdog789, on 01/17/2008, -1/+3Kaiser Permanente is a NON-PROFIT HMO.
      • Itazura, on 01/19/2008, -0/+1non-profit usually makes the most profit, it is just a great tax loop hole. Just ask a church, or actually look up kaisers profits, they aren't hidden.
        "The leader among the nation’s 765 HMOs is $13.2 billion Kaiser Permanente with nine million members, $3.3 billion in profits in the past five years, 12% of the current national HMO membership, 36% of the California HMO market, and the subject of numerous federal and state quality care investigations both in and out of California." For example.
    • progrockguy, on 01/17/2008, -1/+0NOT-FOR-PROFIT status means NOTHING. It doesn't make KP some kind of "angel" organization.

      Also, KP Medical Groups are FOR-PROFIT.
  • lucutus, on 01/17/2008, -6/+1I read an article about this a while ago. Scary stuff. I wonder how many people will think they have it after reading this article!
  • hotdamn, on 01/17/2008, -3/+36for the last time, House is not a real doctor.
    • lucutus, on 01/17/2008, -1/+6But he does play one on TV.
    • sgtbutterscotch, on 01/17/2008, -6/+2Step 1) Reply button
      Step 2) Say something that doesn't contradicts a joke which no one was taking seriously anyway.
      Step 3) Submit
    • BohicaTwentyTwo, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1He not even a real American, but the show rocks.
  • TheRemoteViewer, on 01/17/2008, -11/+32I'm not convinced this is a real disease and not just delusional parisitosis. Many doctors who have examined these patients agree with me.
    • HellifIno, on 01/17/2008, -8/+4Yes, the doctors do agree. Yet they have no real proof. Nor do they have anti-proof. They just don't know, and are erring on the side of "we haven't seen it".
      • TheRemoteViewer, on 01/17/2008, -1/+16I'd say having examined the patient and found no symptoms of any dermatological disorder counts as proof.
        • crimson117, on 01/17/2008, -2/+3Lots of physical diseases cause rashes and open sores. Certain psychological diseases cause you to think you have bugs under your skin. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a combination of both.

          But I would think that confirming whether or not open sores are present would be a very easy task for a doctor, so I don't get all the controversy... no doctor would look at an open sore and say it's psychological.
          • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4You CREATE the sores by all the scratching.
        • pendrachken, on 01/17/2008, -2/+2Or not finding anything KNOWN.

          You can never rule out the possibility that this is something unknown. How can you test for something that you don't know?
    • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -1/+19The evidence is that when these "threads" are examined, they are usually artificial fibers. Many of these cases are due to people picking at themselves(often unconsciously) ie. delusional parasitosis.
    • absurdist, on 01/17/2008, -4/+12I'm not convinced you have the slightest idea of what you're talking about.
    • KingGorilla, on 01/17/2008, -1/+5You sure you're not agreeing with the doctors?
    • mike17032, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5I agree, its making my ***** detector tingle.

      Do a google on the name, and check out some of the sites you find. They sure as hell look like crazy people sites to me.
      • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4I had a summer off of work and school, so I spent a lot of time reading about Morgellons. Most of the Morgellons sites also had stories about chemtrails, some even had direct connections between chemtrails and morgellons.

        More likely than not, these people are just whack jobs.
    • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -0/+4The only part of your post I don't like is "*just* delusional parasitosis."

      The point (I hope) of this study is to determine the most likely cause in order to determine a treatment vector for the condition. People who are unable to function because they have an as yet undiscovered parasitic load are no different from people that are unable to function because they have a crippling delusion of a parasitic load.

      Throughout these comments there has been the implication that if it is a psychological condition, then it's somehow invalid. We have people who are being destroyed by a set of symptoms, we should do the science to sort out the cause and bring the best tools available in that field to bear, whether it is parasitology or psychopharmacology.
  • CatFood, on 01/17/2008, -8/+21Crystal meth FTW
  • thefurball, on 01/17/2008, -4/+2Cool. When does the 'based on real events' movie come out?
  • Syko360, on 01/17/2008, -1/+26Substance "D" also causes the sensation of bug crawling on your skin.
    • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -5/+1Sunny-D?
    • weezcnr, on 01/17/2008, -0/+9As you are being dugg down apparently there is no love for a scanner darkly on digg.
    • KingGorilla, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2That is one tenacious D
    • dn11, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2No wonder the government is doing a study...it''s all part of the plan man, it's all part of the plan.
  • musntSurfatWork, on 01/17/2008, -10/+0Newborns' first hairgrowth? too young to remember.. was all swimmy and warm deep inside my mom.
    • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2A gross fact is that we grow and lose a bunch of hair in the womb, and we eat the hair that falls out.
      • kcap122, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2ew. no. gross. no waiii......rly?
      • Ndiggnation, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2We also basically swam around in our own urine for 9 months too, or so I've read..
  • mongrel, on 01/17/2008, -5/+2Ugh, the description alone made me throw up in my mouth a little
  • lafeecerule, on 01/17/2008, -2/+4=( I wish I didn't Image Google it.
    • HellifIno, on 01/17/2008, -2/+1Why? The images are a real as the condition, at least where it comes in contact with websites. The images you found have almost nothing to do with the possible affliction.

      You're scared of.... ah screw it. Just go be scared. There ya go, good citizen!
      • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2The images are as real as the condition? I didn't know the images were all fake... I thought they showed real cotton and self inflected wounds.
  • ivandir, on 01/17/2008, -3/+8nano-warfare
  • kerguelen72, on 01/17/2008, -15/+10Yes morgellons is finally getting the attention it deserves - please digg this up. These poor people suffer unimaginably.
    • woldy, on 01/17/2008, -7/+6I agree, my uncle suffers from this. It's not a lot of fun.
    • mike17032, on 01/17/2008, -3/+3A bullet to the back of the head is the only cure I know of for crazy.
    • buckrogers1965, on 01/18/2008, -0/+3Seems like there is a lot of imagination involved.
  • Mr.Gone, on 01/17/2008, -4/+4Hmm, strange threads appear from the skin. They should call it Spidermanitis. Or Diggintery.
  • Goobernutz, on 01/17/2008, -1/+13still better than the treeman of singapore. nothing can oust that image from my noggin.
  • tinselt0wn, on 01/17/2008, -7/+13TEH FIBARS!!!!!1one

    haha, what a crock of *****
  • whyufail, on 01/17/2008, -3/+17Morgellons has been discussed by the internets for eternity and has about the credibility of the flat earth society...
    • tinselt0wn, on 01/17/2008, -2/+3the internets is always right

      on a side note: that eric baumen is such a funny young man. Where does he come up with all those witty pictures?
      • whyufail, on 01/17/2008, -1/+1I certainly don't know.Now if you'll excuse me, I need to whistle for a cab to bel-aire.
    • WileEPeyote, on 01/17/2008, -1/+1I think you need to work out that definition of eternity, especially since "Morgellons" wasn't around before 2002. I realize 6 years is a long time on the internet, but it is not an eternity, not compared to some of the stories that make the rounds.
  • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -4/+31These people ARE sick and SHOULD be treated. The only problem is that their condition is mental. Doctors that have examined people who claim to have this, have found nothing more than a slight skin irritation, and since the person scratches at the spot like he's covered in bugs, that's to be expected. Any fibers in scabs would be expected from someone who wears clothing with lint or loose thread and an open cut. A piece of the clothes get stuck in the scab, and the person freaks out.

    Honestly, next we'll be trying to find out if little pink elephants really do exist.
    • physicsguy, on 01/17/2008, -4/+4You have no idea how badly I want you to be right.
    • republicker, on 01/17/2008, -8/+2The do I have seen them many times.
    • BoneheadFarker, on 01/17/2008, -2/+9To be honest, I'd like to stand back and say that it's all in their head. However, I've never actually met anyone with it, so I can't say for sure. And considering that for decades doctors considered Crohn's disease to be psychosomatic I can't dismiss Morgellons, because I sure as hell have Crohn's disease...
      • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5It's a lot easier to examine these wounds, compare them to self inflected ones, and see they're exactly the same.
        It's easy to compare the 'threads' people are finding in their wounds to cotton (found in bandages) and see that the threads are simply cotton stuck in a scabbed over wound.
        • BoneheadFarker, on 01/17/2008, -2/+3The threads I will give you. But the skin irritations may not be strictly in these people's minds, or at least not moreso then the pain and irritation associated with Crohn's is in my mind. It may be a case of the nerves constantly sending false signals, making people feel itchy which causes them to scratch which causes self-inflicted wounds. The symptoms may say self-inflicted, but the cause is far from psychosomatic.
          • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5The skin irritation may be related to a real disease or mental disorder, but Morgellons as it stands is fake.
      • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5That;s kinda odd since Crohn's was 'discovered' in the 1930s.
        It's not an easy disease to diagnose and we didn't really have the best ability to do biopsies and histology on this disease until the 60s.
    • jonshipman, on 01/17/2008, -0/+3Can't Lyme disease drive people crazy?
    • vidar808, on 01/17/2008, -3/+1This is exactly the type of attitude that destroys the medical establishment.
      Just assume patients are delusional before doing any real studies.
  • Noiremorte, on 01/17/2008, -4/+5Hahaha... Bibleprobe thinks it's a plague. ***** nuts.

    On a more serious note... If it's spreading, then it is a real threat, and our government better ***** take it seriously.
    • tinselt0wn, on 01/17/2008, -1/+4yeah, being completely ***** insane is spreading

      i see the headline "Britney Spears gets Morgellons"
  • banido, on 01/17/2008, -1/+10"I can still fix this!"
  • catalysis, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5The mind can be a powerful thing.
  • woosht, on 01/17/2008, -2/+8The problem with recognition of Morgellons is that patients who suffer from it fit the profile of a quite-common delusion. cf. the "matchbox sign" in this piece from Koo and Lebwohl @ UCSF: http://www.aafp.org/afp/20011201/1873.html

    It's nice to see the CDC conducting a study on Morgellon's, I sincerely hope that they get a lot of enrollments in the study and some good scientific data about this, to help decide whether it is a real condition or a product of hypochondria and the internet.
    • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+14Unfortunately, even if they do find negative evidence for this syndrome, many conspiracy theorist and patient's with delusions of the illness will not believe it.
      • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -0/+4That's a common problem with people who have psychological conditions that have a paranoid element, but psychiatry already has a lot of experience with multiple techniques for getting around those barriers and getting patients on their meds.

        The key will be getting the gateway practitioners -- family physicians, dermatologists -- trained in ways to get these patients to psychiatrists without alienating them. Just the tone of the comments in this article probably represents what happens when these patients present at a dermatologist: "Yeah, well I had a looked and the good news is you don't have any parasites, this is probably a psychological condition you should see somebody about."

        The most likely result of that is they will probably go home and make a web page.
    • FyreGoddess, on 01/17/2008, -1/+8I don't see why it's a problem to study this to find out if it's real or not. It seems like at least some of the problem may be coming from a semantics issue. If it *feels* like bugs are crawling under your skin, well, that's how you're going to describe it, but that can easily be heard as "There are bugs under my skin".

      There are a lot of medical issues that are hard, as a patient, to get a diagnosis for, either because they're something that can only be diagnosed by exclusion or because doctors aren't well-versed in that issue or because too many people want to give legitimacy to something that is either in their mind or within their control.

      What's the harm in making an attempt to validate these claims. If it IS something real, then legitimate sufferers will get treatment. If it's not, at least there will be a valid study to point to to back up that it really is all in their minds.
      • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -1/+3You don't think that in the past 6 years, the doctors of all these people who claim to have Morgellons haven't done any testing?
        That's exactly how the Morgellons people are presenting it, which is dishonest. They're so convinced they have this disease that they're willing to lie about it. The itching is either from prescription drug use, over 1700 medications cause itching as a side effect. Or from a psychological disorder, which is more likely. Being unable to believe that you MIGHT have one of the "always itchy" mental issues, is one of the SIGNS of it. And that's how these people are acting.
    • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4The issue is that we can't study every single claim of a disease. There is a limited resources and studying something that many physicians think is not real is not exactly efficient. Researchers and physicians also study things that interest them and not many people are interested in this.

      Anyway, this study should help determine if this is real but like I said, it will not quiet the "true believers" no matter the outcome since "Since the CDC is studying it, therefore something must be going on".
      • Humptydank, on 01/18/2008, -0/+4Agreed that the study shouldn't shift any credibility as to whether it's a parasitic cause or not until it's completed. There we're falling victim to people not understanding how science works. A much bigger problem than delusional parasitosis.
    • shakingfist, on 01/17/2008, -3/+1What about the Oakland A's pitcher and his wife and family? Are they delusional too? They seem perfectly sane to me.
      • Lyph5, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4Because you're a 'celebrity' it doesn't make you any more sane than anyone else, actually studies have shown that people who want to become famous are LESS mentally balanced.

        But, back on topic, being a public figure doesn't mean you can't have a psychological disorder that causes you to believe you are always itchy.
  • enziobodoni, on 01/17/2008, -0/+53I've been following this for a long time. One of the classic (i.e. diagnostic) hallmarks of delusional parasitosis is that its sufferers are ABSOLUTELY SURE they DO NOT HAVE delusional parasitosis. And, most people who complain about bugs or parasites crawling on their skin will usually bring in a matchbox to their doctor containing the "bugs," which are always lint or hair (I'm a pathologist and have received numerous such samples to look at microscopically). Therefore, while Morgellon's may be real, it is currently totally indistinguishable from a well-documented psychiatric problem (research papers and the like from sources on the web notwithstanding). It'll be good, therefore, to see a proper study done on it.
    • crimson117, on 01/17/2008, -0/+6double-dugg
    • NEUTRINO50, on 01/17/2008, -0/+7Thank god there's someone who knows what they're talking about around here :) vs. hordes of 16yearolds roaming digg
    • CalvinLawson, on 01/18/2008, -1/+1How scary...in this case how would a person prove that he was in fact NOTt delusional? Find tapeworms? I guess being absolutely convinced that you are sane could be considered a symptom among a constellation of other symptoms.

      But, I read "Parasite Rex" the other day; it seems like the likelihood of your average person having an unknown parasite was rather high. In general human parasites aren't studied that much, as they are usually more common in tropical (poor) climates and/or are local to a specific area.

      Still, this has been on slashdot a number of times. They figured it's either parasitosis or it's Crystal Meth, as that causes sores and crawly bug feelings.
  • physicsguy, on 01/17/2008, -15/+2I've read stuff on this suggesting it is caused by nano-technology. That thought absolutely terrifies me because it would mean that there is almost zero chance of a cure. I'll keep an eye on this to see how the study goes. *Shudders and then pushes this article to the back of my mind and builds a wall of ignorance around it and then paints the wall with happy fluffy, thoughts, jokes and amusing limericks*
    • imperium2000, on 01/17/2008, -0/+7Ummmm...are you being serious or sarcastic?
      • physicsguy, on 01/17/2008, -4/+0Yeah I'm being serious. One of the other guys has said something similar in an above comment. I really do hope it is an erroneous conspiracy theory. The idea of nano-viruses has terrified me ever since watching The Outer Limits :S
    • aidave, on 01/17/2008, -3/+2More likely to be caused by GM foods. Both are a recent phenomenon.
    • mike17032, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4THEY ARE ALREADY UNDER YOUR SKIN! Cut it all off before its to late!!

      Jesus christ people, why do your handlers let you on the damn internet anyway?
  • JedicodeWarrior, on 01/17/2008, -3/+6" ... Sores erupt on your skin, mysterious threads pop out of them, and you feel like tiny bugs are crawling all over you ... "

    I had that condition, but it was because I ate the worm at the bottom of the bottle!
    • tinselt0wn, on 01/17/2008, -6/+1well thats your problem. tequila is gross
      • gx5ilver, on 01/17/2008, -0/+3Mezcal (agave based liquor that isn't tequila) has the worm. Tequila will never have a worm.
  • 5xSTUN, on 01/17/2008, -6/+4I'm just going to go ahead and call to my presence a thousand hale and light-hearted individuals from among the knights and dames of my court, and with them retreat to the isolated seclusion of one of my many castellated abbeys. After a few months I'll entertain my guests with a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence. What could possibly go wrong?
    • WileEPeyote, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2Well, I dugg you up for the reference. Apparently there aren't a lot of book readers in this crowd.
      • jonshipman, on 01/17/2008, -1/+1Well Steve Jobs does say people don't read anymore.
      • 5xSTUN, on 01/18/2008, -0/+2Yeah, 19th Century literary references are sure to get shot down. I should've just gone with the Hammer film with Vincent Price in it.
  • myAmygdala, on 01/17/2008, -5/+2I've read about this before. Some people suspect a bacterial plant pathogen called "agrobacterium" that can sometimes infect humans.
    "Agrobacterium is a genus of Gram-negative bacteria that uses horizontal gene transfer to cause tumors in plants. Agrobacterium tumefaciens is the most commonly studied species in this genus. Agrobacterium is well known for its ability to transfer DNA between itself and plants, and for this reason it has become an important tool for plant improvement by genetic engineering." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrobacterium#Agrobac ...
  • DeFex, on 01/17/2008, -1/+13They should be careful if this gets to the stage that they find out its a delusion and someone discovers a drug for it. maybe they might accidentally cure religion and save humanity.
  • Medusausi, on 01/17/2008, -0/+3It's Cooties! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6ylxWcwkUM
    • MaddieCakes, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2I thought I was gonna get Rick Roll'd. That was cute.
      Where the hell is the Drew Carey Cooties PSA? Did it get taken down?
  • bubbadigg, on 01/17/2008, -0/+6isn't Morgellons one of the founding beings of Scientology ??
  • rgautier, on 01/17/2008, -3/+3Quick, call Jeff Goldblum.
    Obscure?
  • SecretChief, on 01/17/2008, -1/+6After reading about this disease for 20 minutes on the net, I am already certain it is psychological. The way people argue on the forums combined to the total absence of convincing evidence was enough for me.
    • mcduckov, on 01/17/2008, -0/+6Kinda like fibromydontwannaworknomoalga?
  • dkern, on 01/17/2008, -3/+5Chemtrails!
  • chairlamp, on 01/17/2008, -4/+4+1 chemtrails
  • Axias, on 01/17/2008, -8/+5It's not meth related, the connection it's sufferers share are in fact geographically or vector related. The scanning electron photographs are the scariest. If that isn't enough evidence to dismiss this as any sort of delusional disease, then I don't what else you need. We're talking about something that's probably somewhat area-specific (think lyme disease), with horrific, debilitating effects, which might be catchy. Conspiracy theories aside, it's not a stretch to consider that it's in BigHealthcares best interests to keep this off a payable-disease chart.

    Ugh, the descriptions were horrid, I'd classify it as a virus with some of the scariest disease attributes ever: self replicating, crawling under your skin, and boring through tissue. Thank God they are having some success against this crap with antibiotics.
    • catalysis, on 01/17/2008, -0/+7You would classify it as a virus? Do you know what a virus is?
    • enicholas, on 01/17/2008, -0/+6Even if it is geographically related, that still doesn't prove that it's a disease (separate from delusional parasitosis, at least). Could easily be caused by a doctor in a given area prone to telling people they have it, or from people telling other people about it who then notice "symptoms" in themselves.

      Mass delusion is a real phenomenon, and it will show geographic patterns.
    • jrchin, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5If it were a virus, you couldn't treat it with antibiotics. Duh. The success they're having with antibiotics is called "the placebo effect." Look it up.
  • diggingaround, on 01/17/2008, -0/+10And that's what happens when you buy a t-shirt at Wal-Mart.
  • MrESaulved, on 01/17/2008, -3/+3One culprit among the many is methamphetamine abuse. If you want to cure a lot of what is wrong with many people, eliminate methamphetamine: crystal, ice, tina, etc.

    Once off methamphetamines an abusers health will improve, mentally and physically. If the user stays on methamphetamine not only will they continue to worsen to the point of ruin and death, but any people that rely on them or associate with them will begin to suffer greatly as well as if they were also using. That means you.
  • NonLeftistDiggr, on 01/17/2008, -3/+6Well according to diggers American health care BLOWS in all categories, unless we make it universal and reuters approves.... so what value could we possibly add to medical research? I think Canada, France, and England should be working on this.
    • ScrappyLaptop, on 01/17/2008, -0/+2Interesting thought. Is this a U.S. only 'disease'? That would seem to indicate a cultural bias which would pointmore toward psychosomatic or psychological...
    • WileEPeyote, on 01/17/2008, -1/+1You are correct in that we wouldn't add a lot to the medical research, unless there is some type of lifetime (or at least several years) treatment option. It's not that companies are evil, it's that they research the most profitable area and cures are not profitable.
      Hair growth is a perfect example. If there is a cure out there it will most likely be some drug you take for a short time that turns on some gene that starts up hair growth. That isn't where companies are putting there money though as there is no profit. They are putting there money into expensive surgical methods and lifetime use ointments.
  • iassocuwinun, on 01/17/2008, -11/+2You know how when a jet (see MILITARY) flies over and the jet exhaust doesn't slowly dissipate but somehow stretches into cloud cover? And then another jet criss-crosses that stream and leaves another one? And another? I dunno just a thought...try watching sometime.
    • augmental, on 01/17/2008, -0/+5WTF...haha...I thought you were going to say that the "cloud cover" from the jets comes down and then the meth-heads breath it in and it gives them "teh threads" disease, oh well.
  • Kythas, on 01/17/2008, -6/+2FTA: "Study participants will be drawn from Kaiser's 3.4 million health insurance customers living mainly in the Sacramento and San Francisco areas and as far south as Fresno."

    FTA: "Any fibers or specks that are collected will be analyzed at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Selby said."

    So the libs in San Francisco don't want the military recruiting people in schools, or even have recruiting stations in their towns (like Berkeley), but when they want something done for them, who do they turn to?
    • WileEPeyote, on 01/17/2008, -0/+4Kythas,
      That's quite a stretch considering the CDC and a US Senator led the charge on this. It wasn't the people of San Francisco calling up their local military barracks and asking for some doctors.
  • mangasm, on 01/17/2008, -5/+4So am I to believe that people with this disease actually grow hair?
    *****.
    • pennvneff, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2It's not hair, learn how to ***** read you retard.
  • bat-21, on 01/17/2008, -8/+3Notice that all of the doctors who say that Morgellons is a delusion are old, white guys who've never been anywhere. I used to live on a tropical island and saw all kinds of crazy *****. If you can have a fish that wants to imbed itself in your penis, than a fiber producing parasite is at least possible.
    • enicholas, on 01/17/2008, -1/+7Doctors never said it couldn't possibly be a real disease. They examined the patients, studied the fibers in detail, and concluded that the fibers are cotton and the skin lesions are self-inflicted.
    • chaosium, on 01/18/2008, -0/+1"Notice that all of the doctors who say that Morgellons is a delusion are old, white guys who've never been anywhere. I used to live on a tropical island and saw all kinds of crazy *****"

      You're a little white guy who sits at home and plays WoW, shut up.
  • sparticause, on 01/17/2008, -9/+2I've heard of this before, it was on a video called the new world order, it says that morgellons are a result of chem trail spraying, that the fibers are meant to sensitize our lungs making a engineered disease easier to spread its a crazy video here's the link
    http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=14025569122 ...
  • weebit, on 01/17/2008, -1/+2This is pretty bad stuff and even though some here are brushing this off as a mental disease I don't think it is mental. Whole family's have gotten this disease. First one, then another, until several in the family, and EVEN friends etc have gotten it. So it looks to be highly contagious. You can read the horror stories of some of the people who have this here: http://www.morgellons.org/stories.htm I removed the frame to make it easier to get to the stories of the people who suffer from Morgellons Disease. BTW this Morgellons Disease seems to be in certain areas of the USA. It is not wide spread. Word is also it started in Florida or in California I believe. Or so I read that about a year ago. It is a big debate on where, but I would not want to claim the fame associated with it.
  • topace3000, on 01/17/2008, -3/+6Waste of money.
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