In a recent newsletter, we reported on a mysterious skin
disease that's being seen in various parts of the country,
called Morgellons Disease. Now scientists say this may be
not be a physical ailment, despite the suffering that it is
causing. Many dermatologists agree, but the case is not yet
closed.
LiveScience.com reports that physicians
generally agree that Morgellons, which reportedly causes the
symptoms of itching underneath the skin, as
well as fibrous filaments oozing from open sores, probably
does not exist as a physical illness. One of the primary
reasons for this is that the fibers appear to consist of
cellulose, which cannot be formed in the human body, but
must come from the outside. The disease has mainly been seen in
California and Florida and a Texas teenager is reported to
have committed suicide because of it. (Some news reports
also locate the teenager in the Los Angeles area.) The
American Journal
of Clinical Dermatology has published a paper written by
members of the non-profit Morgellons Research Foundation,
which says that over 2,000 cases of the disease have been
reported from all 50 states, as well as the UK, Australia
and the Netherlands.
How can a disease that doesn't exist be reported from so
many places? It may be an example of Munchausen's Syndrome,
which is a stress-related mental illness in which patients
report symptoms that are not real, and manufacture evidence
of the symptoms. In Munchausen's-by-proxy, parents or
caregivers induce medical symptoms in people so that they
can take them to the hospital and get attention for being
caring individuals. Mothers with this syndrome have been
caught on camera torturing their babies when medical
personnel were not around.
But if it doesn't exist, how can it spread? People who are
psychologically susceptible to developing this syndrome are
probably also susceptible to mass hysteria. This is the kind
of thing that happens when a husband feels some of the
symptoms of his wife's pregnancy or when your friend has a
disease and you begin to notice some of the same symptoms in
yourself. In this case, the internet was undoubtedly the
vehicle that "spread" Morgellons, since people who read
about it began to notice the symptoms in themselves. If they
then developed Munchausen's, they obtained debris to bring
in and show their doctors, to "prove" their disease was real.
A dermatologist who has
personally seen some of these patients says, "Delusional
patients come into the office carrying little bags of offal
which look like something out of a vacuum cleaner bag. They
claim they pulled these out of their skin. The patients
often have delusional parasitosis. This is one of the most
common factitial dermatoses we see and is instantly cured by
the antipsychotic drug Pimozide. One can easily identify
under the microscope the nature of clothing and rug fibers
claimed as Morgellons."
All of this said, it remains possible that this illness is
going to surprise the medical community. We live in a world
filled with environmental stressors and pollutants, many of
which have not been properly tested. The case on Morgellons
remains open.
Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
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