Buzz
Patients with Morgellons often report the sensation of insects crawling beneath their skin. See additional images showcasing skin conditions.
Hemera/ThinkstockIn 2002, baseball pitcher Billy Koch was at the peak of his career. Playing for the Oakland Athletics, his powerful fastball reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour). It seemed inevitable that he would continue to dominate the major leagues. But then, Koch faced a nearly undetectable foe.
Just when his career appeared destined for greatness, Koch began suffering from sleepless nights due to twitching muscles. Soon after, strange multi-colored fibers seemed to seep from sores on his skin. Doctors were either dismissive of his troubling symptoms or could only provide short-term relief. After two years of battling the persistent sores and relentless fibers, Koch was forced to retire from baseball at the young age of 29 [source: Fowler].
Koch's health issues might seem more at home in a science fiction story than reality, yet there are an increasing number of individuals in the United States who claim to feel insects crawling beneath their skin and observe wiry fibers growing from their bodies. This condition, known as Morgellons Disease, has been linked to various causes, from nanotechnology to nematodes. However, its origins and potential treatments remain a mystery.
Morgellons, also known as unexplained dermopathy or fiber disease, encompasses a range of symptoms, primarily affecting the skin. Those affected report sensations of insects crawling, stinging, or burrowing under the skin. Additionally, fibers—either single or multi-colored stiff threads—or black granules are often discovered on or beneath the skin [source: CDC]. Many other symptoms, including memory loss, joint pain, or chronic fatigue, tend to accompany Morgellons. There are also individuals who suspect that Morgellons may not be a physical condition at all. Could the physical manifestations of Morgellons actually be rooted in mental illness?
First, let's explore how Morgellons became the subject of widespread attention.
Defining Morgellons: Encounters of the Creepy Kind
The enigmatic illness now known as Morgellons remained nameless and mostly overlooked until 2002, when Mary Leitao, a woman from Pennsylvania, began investigating her 2-year-old son's unusual skin issues [source: Chertoff]. The child described 'bugs' when pointing to fibers that continuously emerged from his lips [source: Schulte]. Leitao coined the term "Morgellons" after finding a reference to wiry hairs growing from children's backs in a rare 17th-century French medical book. By 2002, she had created a website that attracted a growing community of individuals facing similar unsettling symptoms. In 2004, she founded the Morgellons Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness and funding for the disease [source: Harlan].
Soon after, Randy Wymore, a pharmacology and physiology researcher at Oklahoma State University with a passion for uncovering the unknown, began gathering and analyzing samples from individuals who reported fibers emerging from their skin [source: Harlan]. Despite the growing project, Wymore was unable to identify the composition of the fibers. They weren't made of synthetic materials like fiberglass or plant-based substances [source: Stobbe]. In fact, researchers are still uncertain about the fibers' origin; they don't even match anything in the FBI's national database [source: ABC News].
The Morgellons Research Foundation website remains a central hub for those documenting their symptoms. While the disease predominantly affects middle-aged women, men and children are also affected. Many report that the condition appears to spread among family members in close contact [source: Schulte]. To date, over 14,000 individuals (who refer to themselves as "Morgies") consider themselves to be afflicted with the disease. However, tracking the true number of cases is challenging, as those with symptoms must self-diagnose; the medical community still doesn't officially recognize Morgellons as a disease.
In September 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which receives approximately 1,200 inquiries annually from those with Morgellons, concluded a yearlong investigation into the condition [source: Chong]. As of May 2010, the CDC was still analyzing the data, with no specific date set for the release of the results.
The CDC's investigation aimed to catalog symptoms and gather information about those reporting Morgellons. Northern California was chosen as a study location due to its higher-than-average number of cases [source: Templeton]. Other regions with notable Morgellons clusters include Florida and Texas, though cases have been reported in every state, as well as in Asia, Europe, and Australia [source: Witt].
For individuals who believe they are fighting a daily battle against Morgellons, the CDC study offers a glimmer of hope. In the next section, we will delve into the troubling symptoms they face.
Morgellons Symptoms: An Unending Itch
Before seeking treatment for Morgellons, most people with these perplexing symptoms first try to figure out what is happening. Sores that seem to emit wiry hairs are unsettling enough, but when neither doctors nor the FBI can identify the cause, it escalates the situation from troubling to terrifying.
Many individuals claiming to have Morgellons describe the sensation of insects crawling beneath their skin. These skin lesions, which accompany the feeling, can appear anywhere on the body—even on areas a person can't easily reach. At times, fibers seem to burst from the lesions, either as individual threads or as twisted clusters of fibers. Some report feeling gritty granules on their skin or eyelids, with a few believing the granules are eggs left by insects under their skin. Bed sheets may be found covered in black specks that have fallen off their skin. Reports also mention hair loss, vision impairment, and gum disease [source: Than]. Others experience all or just a combination of these symptoms [source: Savely].
Most people self-reporting Morgellons also describe difficulties with concentration, "brain fog," and overwhelming fatigue. Some also report joint pain or trouble sleeping [source: Savely]. A number of individuals feel like they are losing their sanity [source: Morgellons Research Organization].
Clearly, something is happening, but what exactly is it? The Morgellons enigma presents a "chicken or the egg" dilemma. Is it a physical disease that causes psychiatric symptoms, or is it the reverse? [source: Savely]. Regardless, the symptoms can be so severe and persistent that, in some tragic cases, individuals have taken their own lives [source: Williamson].
For those seeking relief from the itching, stinging sensations, and skin lesions, the answers often remain elusive. Discover the reasons behind this on the following page.
Doctors and researchers investigating the origins of Morgellons symptoms often examine shared exposures among those who report the condition. These have ranged from dirt and ticks to cotton socks and bottled water. Many Morgellons sufferers also test positive for Lyme disease, which is transmitted by ticks [source: Ho]. It's also believed that ticks may carry bacteria that could cause Morgellons-like infections [source: Ho]. As for cotton socks, they seem an unlikely culprit. While the fibers that emerge from the skin sometimes resemble lint, they are not cotton fibers [source: Stobbe]. If the bacteria responsible for Morgellons were being introduced through bottled water, as some suggest, it likely would have spread widely by now [source: Mortellaro].
Is It Mental Illness or a Physical Disease?
Long before they earn their medical degrees, students are often warned about the 'zip-close baggie.' The principle is simple: If a patient arrives with their symptoms in a baggie, rather than on their body, it's usually a good idea to remain cautious. Be prepared to suggest anti-psychotic medication.
Sadly, for patients who believe fibers are growing out of their skin, this advice works against them. Morgellons sufferers frequently bring fibers or black specks that flake off their skin to the doctor, presenting them in a desperate attempt to show the evidence. Unfortunately, it’s often assumed that the wounds are self-inflicted [source: Savely].
A number of individuals who report symptoms similar to Morgellons are diagnosed with psychosomatic conditions, such as delusional parasitosis [source: Savely]. Essentially, delusional parasitosis refers to the belief that bugs or other foreign objects are emerging from the skin, even though they are not present [source: Than]. What about the sores and fibers? While these appear to provide clear evidence, they can also be attributed to a psychosomatic condition. The sores might be self-inflicted, and although the fibers are harder to explain, they could be deliberately placed. A disorder like delusional parasitosis begins in the mind, but it can result in physical symptoms that are real, not imagined [source: University of Michigan Health System].
In addition, some anti-psychotic drugs do alleviate the itching, which seems to support the delusional parasitosis diagnosis [source: Savely].
The issue is that if Morgellons is purely a physical ailment, it is not yet recognized as a legitimate disease by the medical community. There are no known diseases or conditions that perfectly match its combination of symptoms [source: OSU]. Moreover, the symptoms of this alleged condition overlap with those of other diseases, like simple dermatitis or Lyme disease [source: Than]. At times, the medical community's simplest recommendation is: 'Just don't scratch it' [source: OSU]. But until the underlying cause of Morgellons is uncovered, few know how to treat it -- or even if they are willing to do so.
