Topic: The Facts Behind The Medical Mystery Of Morgellons- Article
Melanie Reber
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The Facts Behind The Medical Mystery Of Morgellons
Posted: May 7, 2008 08:15 PM Featured KTNV Video The Facts Behind The Medical Mystery Of Morgellons Also on KTNV.com CDC Looking Into Morgellons Syndrome
It has been nearly a year since Action News first started investigating a bizarre skin condition known as Morgellons.
The mysterious infection causes open sores with string like fibers poking out of the skin.
The condition has baffled health officials, leaving patients confused and frustrated.
Action News Kimberly Tere has more on the findings of one San Francisco doctor who says the disease is very real, very serious and talks about what might be causing it.
It sounds more like science fiction or something out of a horror movie.
"When it hits, it just feels like something is crawling all over me," said patient Judy Johnson.
Patients often complain of having mysterious red, blue and black fibers growing out of their bodies.
"It is almost like these things are alive," said Johnson.
It is called Morgellons and patients say it feels like insects are moving beneath and even biting their skin.
"In addition to the skin lesions, they tend to get other symptoms such as fatigue, muscle aches, joint pains and a lot of neurological and neuropsychiatries symptoms," said Dr. Stricker.
More than 11,000 people in the United States have reported the same symptoms forcing the medical community to take a more serious look at Morgellons disease.
San Francisco Doctor Raphael Stricker has been researching the condition and thinks he may have an explanation.
"What we have found is there is a plant bacteria that is often found in the lesions that these patients have and we think that this plant bacteria may be involved in the cause of the disease," said Dr. Stricker.
Dr. Stricker says his patients have one thing in common.
"These patients tend to have exposure to soil or dirt or some sort of plant life," said Dr. Stricker.
But exactly how is the plant bacteria getting into their systems?
Dr. Stricker believes it could be ticks.
"We know that ticks can carry something like 40 different bacteria and so it is possible the ticks are picking up the plant bacteria and transmitting it along with the Lyme Disease infecting people through their bite," said Dr. Stricker.
In a recent study of Morgellons patients, 43 out of 44 of them tested positive for Lyme Disease.
"Very often when patients get treated for the Lyme Disease the Morgellons also gets better. So it does suggest that antibiotic treatment is useful for this disease," said Dr. Stricker.
But an antibiotic treatment is not a miracle cure.
"These people have been going from doctor to doctor and being told they are crazy. There is nothing wrong with them," said Dr. Stricker.
It is a major source of frustration for patients who are suffering.
"If I could have performed an amputation to willingly get rid of the pain, I think I would have willingly cut my leg off. It hurt that bad," said Johnson.
Doctors hope that the medical community accepts this condition not as science fiction, but as science fact.
"Once we recognize this as a real disease then we can really start to do research and see what is causing it and try to find a cure," said Dr. Stricker.
The US Centers For Disease Control is about to begin its first study on Morgellons.
It is paying California based health care giant Kaiser Permanente $340,000 to test and interview patients with symptoms of the condition.
The one year study will attempt to define the conditions and determine how common it is.
Stay tuned to Action News as we monitor developing news around the Valley.
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Of course, those people are crazy, and the poor people in Lake Tahoe were yuppie slackers.
I am amazed in this day and age that the cover ups go on and on.
Bunny
-------------------- 4 strong winds that blow lonely, 7 seas that run high.
All those things that don't change Come what may. Posts: 103 | From Dallas/ Fort Worth. TX | Registered: Dec 2007
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mojo
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Thank you for posting this.
I hope they unravel this mystery. What a horrible disease.
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tailz
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I was just reading this in-depth article on Morgellons. I don't know though - sometimes I feel like something is moving around in my gums and actually slithering around inside my teeth and spine, and no antibiotic yet has done anything to help.
What's really scary is that I have a weeping pussy willow tree right outside my door that I planted last year that had grown a tumor, and after reading this article I realized it's crown gall. Do I have Morgellons? I'm going to cry:-(
Vitaly Citovsky is a professor of molecular and cell biology at Stony Brook University in New York (SUNY).
He is a world authority on the genetic modification of cells by Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium causing crown gall disease in plants, that has been widely used in creating genetically modified (GM) plants since the 1980s
because of its ability to transfer a piece of its genetic material, the T-DNA on its tumour-inducing (Ti) plasmid to the plant genome (see later for details).
Citovsky's team took scanning electron microscope pictures of the fibres in or extruding from the skin of patients suffering from Morgellons disease, confirming that they are unlike any ordinary natural or synthetic fibres (see Fig. 1, assembled from Citovsky's website [8]).
They also analysed patients for Agrobacterium DNA. Skin biopsy samples from Morgellons patients were subjected to high-stringency polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for genes encoded by the Agrobacterium chromosome and also for Agrobacterium virulence (vir) genes and T-DNA on its Ti plasmid.
They found that ``all Morgellons patients screened to date have tested positive for the presence of Agrobacterium, whereas this microorganism has not been detected in any of the samples derived from the control, healthy individuals.'' Their preliminary conclusion is that ``Agrobacterium may be involved in the etiology and/or progression'' of Morgellons Disease.
The unpublished findings have been posted on a website [8] since January 2007. They were further publicized in the ``first ever'' Morgellons conference in Austin Texas, attended by 100 in March 2008 [9].
A growing list of people are registered with Morgellons Disease, totalling 12 106 worldwide recorded by Morgellons Research Foundation [3], as of 12 April 2008.
San Francisco physician, Raphael Stricker, one of only a few doctors who believe the disease is real, said [9]. ``There's almost always some history of exposure to dirt basically either from gardening or camping or something.''
He is one of the co-authors on the Agrobacterium research done in SUNY, which reported finding Agrobacterium DNA in all 5 Morgellons patients studied.
Stricker suggests it is transmitted by ticks, like Lyme disease, and in a recent survey of 44 Morgellons patients in San Francisco, 43 of them also tested positive for the bacterium causing Lyme disease.
Another factor consistent with Agrobacterium being a causative agent, if not the causative agent, is that when patients are treated with antibacterials for their Lyme disease, remission of Morgellons symptoms is seen in most of them [6].
Stricker also told his audience that Agrobacterium lives in the soil, and is known to cause infections in animals and human beings with compromised immune systems. It can cause skin lesions when injected into Swiss mice, a strain that is immune deficient, he said.
At this point, the findings on the Agrobacterium connection are still preliminary, as only seven patients have been studied.
Nevertheless, the implications are far-reaching if this connection is confirmed, as existing evidence (reviewed below) suggests a link between Agrobacterium and genetic engineering in the creation of new disease agents, and it is paramount for the CDC investigation to include this aspect, if only to rule it out.
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lymie_in_md
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There was an excellent article on morgellons in the Washington post a while back. Take time to read it, it really shows how real this disease is and how close it is to us all.
Some people think it has to do with chemtrails.
Posts: 7772 | From Northeast, again... | Registered: Oct 2006
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Cobweb
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quote:Originally posted by tailz: I was just reading this in-depth article on Morgellons. I don't know though - sometimes I feel like something is moving around in my gums and actually slithering around inside my teeth and spine, and no antibiotic yet has done anything to help.
What's really scary is that I have a weeping pussy willow tree right outside my door that I planted last year that had grown a tumor, and after reading this article I realized it's crown gall. Do I have Morgellons? I'm going to cry:-(
Tailz,Sweetie, do you belong to Disease of the Month Club?
What were the results of last month's Disease testing? "--"I talked Dr. B into checking me for a pheochromocytoma (adrenal tumor), and the more I read about it, the more it fits, and I haven't been wrong yet. I'll bet it spread, too."
Whatever ails you- you seem to have a pretty strong constitution because you keep on ticking.
Glad you made the switch from canned peas to frozen to avoid possible exposure to metal poisoning-but it may be too late-metals are cumulative and you have been eating those canned peas for a long time.
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