Imagine living with the sensation of bugs crawling over and under your skin throughout your body, and having your condition dismissed by physicians as a psychiatric disorder. This is the reality of Morgellons sufferers.
Morgellons syndrome, also known as delusional parasitosis, was first described in a medical paper in 1674 by Sir Thomas Browne. Symptoms associated with Morgellons include sensations of itching, crawling, biting, stinging, pricking and burning, believed by sufferers to be caused by an infection or infestation of some sort. Contrary to the unshakable belief in an infectious cause for their symptoms among sufferers, investigations to date have not identified an infectious agent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recently set up a task force to investigate, but information on Morgellons or their investigations into an infectious cause is not currently available on their web-site.
Many Morgellons sufferers are self-diagnosed, having been told by physicians and specialists that their condition is not real. The internet has provided an avenue for Morgellons sufferers to validate their symptoms, diagnose their condition, and find support from other sufferers. The Morgellons Research Foundation was founded by Mary Leitao to enable scientific research into the cause of Morgellons syndrome and support sufferers. Mrs. Leitao, the Executive Director of the Morgellons Research Foundation, has a son who suffers from Morgellons. The Morgellons Research Foundation has a Medical Advisory Board comprised of 6 physicians.
Despite the reluctance of the scientific and medical communities to entertain the possibility of Morgellons as an emerging infectious disease, there is certainly a great deal of interest in Morgellons syndrome. The Morgellons Research Foundation website has had more than 80,000 visitors since February 2006. The case definition of Morgellons as described on the Morgellons website includes skin lesions, crawling sensations within and on the skin, fatigue, cognitivie difficulties affecting both short-term memory and ability to concentrate, behavioural disorders (bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, depression, etc.) and the presence of fibres and specks in or on the skin surface.
Whereas the Morgellons Research Foundation may describe the behavioural disorders as a cause of Morgellons, the scientific community is more likely to describe the symptoms of Morgellons as a delusion associated with the underlying behavioural disorder. Many physicians support the authenticity of the sensations experienced by Morgellons sufferers, but attribute them to abnormal or hyperstimulation of nerve signals, rather than an infectious agent.
Sources:
Koblenzer CS. The challenge of Morgellons disease. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology; 55(5):920-1.
Murase JE. Morgellons disease: A rapport-enhancing term for delusions of parasitosis. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology; 55(5):914-15.
The Morgellons Research Foundation
