For those not familiar with Morgellons Disease it may seem like a disease that is right out of science fiction but for those suffering the bazaar and painful symptoms it is only too real.
Although there have been reports of persons describing the symptoms of Morgellons Disease as early as 1985, it is only since around 2000 that this fiber disease has become better known.
What makes this skin disease so mysterious? It is the baffling array of symptoms that those who are suffering from this disease describe.
The website Morgellons UK reports that people with Morgellons have problems with their integumentary system (the skin and its appendages including hair, scales, feathers, and nails), cardiovascular system, endocrinal system, and digestive system.
With such an array of symptoms is not hard to see why it is so hard to get a correct diagnosis.
One of the main symptoms the sensation of bugs crawling under the skin.
The symptom that makes this disease unique is the filament that protrudes from the lesions that have formed on various places on the body.
In fact, other names for this disease are Fiber Disease or Morgellons Fiber Disease.
In 2006, Randy Wymore, PhD, asked a researcher with the Tulsa Police Department to examine a fiber taken from one of these lesions.
His findings showed that after comparing this filament with 100,000 textile and other similar samples contained it FBI files, it did not match any of them.
The results from that study seems to put rest the idea that these filaments extracted from the lesions could be from clothing or other materials rubbing against the skin.
Adding to the problem for doctors to correctly diagnosis this disease is that there is no standard or agreed standard of diagnostic symptoms.
In fact, the medical community can't agreed whether this condition is a new disease or whether people who exhibit these symptoms have a common cause for their symptoms or whether they share common risk factors.
Researches still don't know if this disease is contagious or not.
In some families, only one person may report the symptoms, but other families may have multiple sufferers.
Interestingly, it has also been reported in dogs and horses.
Despite the evidence to the contrary, dermatologists and psychiatrists, still do not regard this disease as something new, they continue to see it as evidence of other medical conditions, such as lye disease.
They often diagnosis this condition as delusional parasitosis...
it's all in the patients head.
In some circumstances parents who have taken their children to doctors, have been diagnosed with Munschausen.
Why the medical community is showing a lack of interest in this disease is baffling to the people who have tried to find answers for skin problems.
Thankfully, research has begun.
The Center for Disease Control has started a study in association with Kaiser Permanente.
This study is ongoing and to date there has been results published.
This research is a ray of light to those suffering Mongellions.
The best advice was given by the Mayo Clinic when they suggested treating the symptoms.
In absence of any proven treatment for the disease as a whole, that seems to be the best way to treat Mongellions Disease.