Morgellons is a multi-symptom disease that is just now starting to be researched and understood. It has a number of primary symptoms:
- Sponanteously Erupting Skin lesions
- Sensation of crawling, biting on and under the skin
- Appearance of blue, black or red fibers and granules beneath and/or extruding from the skin
- Short-term memory loss
- Attention Deficit, Bipolar or Obsessive-Compulsive disorders
- Impaired thought processing (brain fog)
- Depression and feelings of isolation
It is frequently misdiagnosed as Delusional Parasitosis or an Obsessive Picking Disorder.
- Adults and Children are equally affected by the disease.
- Individuals in families can experience symptoms of the disease while other members are unaffected. So it is not known, at this point, if the disease is contagious or inherited.
- Multiple members of a family can have symptoms.
- Most cases in the United States are from specific geographic regions of California, Texas and Florida, though all 50 states have had reported cases.
- Oklahoma has reported numerous probable cases.
- It has been reported worldwide in places such as Europe, South Africa, Japan, The Philippines, Indonesia and Australia
- The name "Morgellons Disease" is based on the description of a similar fiber producing condition, found in children by Sir Thomas Browne in 1674. Microscopic drawings, dating from 1682 by Dr. Michel Etmuller appear to be similar to the fibers from present-day sufferers.
- There is no evidence giving preference to one season being a more likely time to contract the disease.
- There are patients who have claimed to have had the symptoms for as long as two decades. Most were diagnosed with Delusional Parasitosis and/or Obsessive Picking of the skin.
- Medical research started in earnest in 2005 at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa by Randy Wymore, Ph.D.
- There are doctors who believe it is related to an infectious agent, perhaps in the same family as that which causes Lyme Disease. There is no evidence to prove this theory at the present time.
- Attention needs to be drawn to Morgellons so:
- Doctors will become informed and make accurate diagnoses
- Insurance companies will cover medical expenses
- Major government organizations (the CDC, for example) will pay attention and start funding research
- There is no definitive understanding of how the disease is transmitted.
- There is no conclusive evidence showing whether it is contagious. Some families have only one member who is affected, even after long exposure, while other families report multiple sufferers.
- A cure will be pursued when enough research is done to find its cause.
- You can help by:
- Contributing time, money and resources.
- Spreading accurate information and combating ignorance about the disease.