A new and mysterious disease, called Morgellons Disease, has been reported by hundreds of people in the San Francisco Bay Area, along the Gulf Coast and in Florida. The disease is characterized by slow healing skin lesions that often extrude small, dark filaments. Other symptoms include nerve and neurological damage affecting thinking and movement. However, many physicians do not recognize Morgellons as a disease and are diagnosing it as delusional parasitosis (delusions of parasites). Nonetheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced that it has formed a task force to investigate Morgellons, and have begun a study targeting the regions where the disease is most prevalent.
Researchers at Oklahoma State University (OSU) in Tulsa are part of the CDC task force. Lead researcher Dr. Randy Wymore, an assistant professor of pharmacology and physiology at OSU, has studied hundreds of fiber samples from Morgellons patients. Dr. Wymore's tests have determined that the fibers are not textile fibers, worms, insects, animal material, or human skin. Instead, the fibers are a presently unknown substance resulting from something infectious and have been observed under unbroken skin. "I am 100 percent convinced that Morgellons is a real disease pathology," says Dr. Wymore, in a news release.
This untreatable, emerging disease 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," says Dr. Wymore. "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."
Dr. Wymore and his OSU medical team are now beginning a clinical trial. The CDC has setup an email address for Morgellons questions at: morgellonssyndrome@cdc.gov.
REFERENCES:
1. Doctors make progress with mysterious disease, KTVU.com, May 23, 2006:
http://www.ktvu.com/print/9264350/detail.html
2. Knapp D. CDC considers Texas for Morgellons study. MySA.com, July 25, 2006:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/medical/stories/MYSA072406.
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Posted by Elaine Gavalas on January 15, 2007 01:23 PM
