http://www.self.com/health/2008/09/morgellons-mystery-disease
This is an eight page article from Self magazine, the most I've seen written on this subject. I found it very interesting, because besides Morgellon's, they talk about how diseases are discovered, taken seriously, etc., and how the internet can help or hinder the process.
The last time there was a post about Morgellon's on this board, I remember asking why they couldn't do a 'CSI' and ID the fibers. Check out the end of the article (starts at the bottom of page 6). A dr. stumbled on a message board, got curious and asked for the fibers. He thought the people were crazy, and expected excuses as to why they couldn't produce them. Then he started getting FedExes! And he compared to every kind of fiber he could find, nothing matched.
That disease is too weird and scary. What is it with all these freaky new things?Has anyone ever seen the "tree" people on one of those science channels? Scary.no.. what tree people! I want to know!!
Now I know why I was always scared of those trees that threw apples in the wizard of OZ!
She is being treated with IV antibiotics, and it helps. Amazing. Funny you mentioned the Morgellons there was an episode on Discovery Health Mystery ER (String Theory) early this morning about a woman with it. I believe her doctor said the majority of people that have it, also have Lymes disease. On the show the dr said something about it being possibly some type of plant virus. I believe she treated her with vet medicine-a dewormer and antibiotics and the woman while not cured, saw an improvement. The tree man has some type of wart.For more information on Morgellons, please see my blog, which includes links to current medical papers on the subject suggesting Lyme and Agrobacterium are "behind" Morgellons to some extent.5. Arthralgias. Frequently reported, although arthritis is not. Common joints are in fingers, shoulders, knees and vertebrae.IMHO, "arthritis" misdiagnosis is often first sign of Morgellons/Lyme or Mycoplasma infection. Therefore it may be worth getting tested before the disease progresses.
HI Niels, I was reading ore about Morgellons after Suzanne posted this and I saw it is believed to be related to Lymes. Thanks for posting!Elevated cytokines: TNF-alpha, IL-6, TGF-beta; elevated inflammation markers: C-reactive protein and TNF-alpha; Immunodeficiency markers: low CD 56 or CD 57 number, low C1Q, low IgG subclasses 1 and 3; hematological abnormalities: low hemoglobin and hematocrit with abnormal RBC indices; and biochemical abnormalities: elevated blood glucose, insulin, calcium, and serum Homocysteine, and low serum potassium and magnesium.
The consistent finding of numerous unexpected biologic agents at atypically high levels (some thought to be non-pathogens, others definitely pathogenic) strongly supports that an immune deficiency state exists in Morgellons patients. Agents identified serologically include many zoonoses (intermittently and in low numbers) such as Borrelia (at least five species) and Babesia, a single recently found gram negative bacterium, most herpes viruses, some strongly activated such as VZV and HHV-6, several mycology species (esp. Tineas), and particularly in those we have labeled Morgellons patients, parasites (species will be elaborated following PCR sequencing).