Our dog has pimply blackheads on her feet. When you squeeze them, out comes a thick wet core between 1/8 and 1/4 inch long. Similar cores also come out of blackheads, without the pimple.
When this brown core dries, you can crumble the cover/capsule. Inside this packet is a bundle of tiny fibers...approximately 30-50 fine thin fibers. I examined these fibers with a hand-held magnifying lens.
The fibers are encapsulated in a bundle inside the "core." This is similar to a new bird feather is encased in a protective sheath. Birds crumble the dried sheath off while preening, releasing the new feather.
It's also like dandelion seed in that the tiny fibers are attached at the "head" end.
These are NOT dog hairs, but they look like hair. Hair is much larger than these fine fibers.
Could these fiber packets have been impaled in the dog's feet?
Does anyone have any idea what lab would seriously and objectively evaluate these fibers?
Oh, I wish I had a way to post a photo here. No one would believe this unless they saw it.
Could this be Morgellon's?
[ 05-30-2010, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: hshbmom ]
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Do they look anything like the pictures under Juvenile Nematomorphs in the lymephotos site?
Awful stuff. Hope your dog gets better.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
Collected more fibers from the dog's feet...a few fibers are red. Some are dark colored. A few of the fresh fibers look crooked like the ones at lymephotos. Most are the bundles of straight fine "fibers."
They were all taken from the side of the dog's foot, between the pad and the edge of the hairline.
This is soooooo weird.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
Sounds like Filarial Worms. I have seen the same things come out of me, so I definitely believe it!! Have you taken him to the vet yet?
Gael
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
These don't appear to be worms, but fibers or minute hairs.
Posted by glm1111 (Member # 16556) on :
They look like fibers, but can actually be a type of Filarial worm. Not all worms look like the earth worms we are used to seeing.
Gael
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
There are no structures resembling a worm...no head, no tail, nothing but a single, one-piece structure that looks like a solid hair-like fiber from one end to the other.
I used a jeweler's hand lens to look at the fibers.
The bundle of fibers is well organized, with the fibers tightly packed, arranged parallel with one another. It's an encapsulated packet of fibers.
They look like multiple splinters that would be painful if the bundle broke off in the skin.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
Have you treated him for Lyme? If it is Morgellons it could be what some are calling cocoons.
You may be able to find a vet university to do the study for you if submitted by a vet.
You might try some coconut oil or lemon juice to see if that pulls them out faster....Morgellons.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
No, no Lyme Tx. No Lyme symptoms. This dog is scrutinized several times a day for ticks. She's a small short-haired white dog with pink foot pads, so any size tick is easily spotted.
Some might call the unopened bundle of fibers a cocoon, but inside the "cocoon" is a neatly arranged bundle of fibers. Think of a package of brand new pencils all neat & uniform, lined up inside the box, or a fiberoptic cable. These fibers look like tiny hairs.
I plan to contact the Oklahoma State University professor conducting researching on Morgellons. I trust they'll be able to make a good lab recommendation.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
There are some warts that do that.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
No, no Lyme Tx. No Lyme symptoms. This dog is scrutinized several times a day for ticks. She's a small short-haired white dog with pink foot pads, so any size tick is easily spotted.
Some might call the unopened bundle of fibers a cocoon, but inside the "cocoon" (unopened packet or bundle) is a neatly arranged collection of fibers. Think of a package of brand new pencils all neat & uniform, lined up inside the box, or a fiberoptic cable. These fibers look like tiny hairs.
I plan to contact the Oklahoma State University professor conducting researching on Morgellons. I trust they'll be able to make a good lab recommendation.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
Pinelady, some warts extrude fibers????
I've seen warts with horn-like growths and wart-like protrusions, but nothing like these fibers or whatever they are.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
I don't know====He may have both. Morgellons may thrive in warts.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
I have photos...now to figure out how to post them here.
I have a child's videoscope with 50X magnification. It projects the image onto a viewing screen. I took pictures of the screen.
We also have a picture of a bunch of these in a jar lid.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
In one photo you can see a half-opened bundle on the side of the dog's paw.
These things remind me of a paint brush, with a tuft of hair/fibers on one end.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
I sent a message and eight photos to:
Professor Randy Wymore Oklahoma State University Pharmacology & Physiology OSU Center for Health Sciences
The UC Davis trained physiologist (Oklahoma State University Professor Randy Wymore) is leading a medical team at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, researching what is now called Morgellons Disease.
With cooperation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Wymore's team is studying Bay Area patients and others from around the country. His first finding disputes the frequent diagnosis of delusions.
"Pathologists and dermatologists and lab reports [said] that these were textile fibers appearing in the skin of the sufferers. Now that's just not true, to be perfectly blunt about it," says Prof. Wymore.
Wymore says his tests rule out not only textile fibers, but also worms, insects, animal material and even human skin and hair. He says the filaments are not an external contamination.
Instead, they are a substance that materializes somehow inside the body, apparent artifacts of something infectious. More results are expected soon. And Wymore says skin problems are not the worst symptoms.
He says a neurotoxin or microorganism may disturb muscle control and memory. "The neurological effects are the much more severe, life altering and much more dangerous of the conditions," explains Prof. Wymore.
Good Idea. Let us know if you get a response.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
Pinelady,
Do you know how to post the pictures here?
You can't simply copy & paste into this window.
Many people use photobucket, but I'd rather figure out how to paste a picture here. I've seen others put photos here.
Posted by Pinelady (Member # 18524) on :
No. I never have. I think you have to use an outside link but that would be nice.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
The more these fibers dry out, the more they look like tiny hairs, and they're the same color as my dog's hair.
They now look like little bushy paintbrushes, with tiny tufts of hair/fibers encased at the end that first emerged from the dog.
They are very odd.
Posted by hshbmom (Member # 9478) on :
I found photos very similar to the ones I took. See the photos # 127, 137, 155 and 157
The "goo" is what I called pus from the pimple. 157 shows the fibers coming out of the end of the thick "damaged hair/follicle." These objects look like matchsticks. The enlarged hair bulb looks like the head of a match.