The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States announced the launch of an investigation on ‘Morgellons Disease’
news.omega
new and strange illness that has just become known over the past few
years. After reading the symptoms I recognized many of them as being
similar to symptoms of 'microwave sickness'. Although the article
mentions GM foods and exposure to soil, we need to ask - why is it
concentrated in some of the biggest and most electro magnetic radiation
polluted cities in North America? Could it be that EMR is damaging the
immune systems of these people and allowing a relatively safe bacteria
to become highly dangerous? Could EMR be changing a relatively safe
bacteria in the soil, into a highly dangerous one. Are Morgellons
victims electro hypersensitive? If the cause was purely soil based or GM
food based, you would expect it to be very noticeable in the farming and
rural community.
Researchers have already linked various skin problems to exposure of
electro magnetic radiation, is this another skin condition caused by
EMR? Morgellons appeared around the time that electro magnetic radiation
from cell phone towers became common in our environment. Can it be
linked to mobile phones and microwave radiation?
Note the researcher's reference to possible fungi growing from the
bodies of Morgellons sufferers (second article below). Increased growth
of fungi has also been linked to electro magnetic radiation!
Take a look at the Scanning Electron Micrograph photographs on the
research page of the Morgellons Research Foundation site
http://www.morgellons.org/ . Note the calcite on the first image. Is
this something to do with calcium efflux, another serious effect of
electro magnetic radiation?
Perhaps the CDC should launch an investigation into all the diseases and
illnesses that may be caused by electro magnetic radiation.
Martin Weatherall
*CDC launch investigation on Morgellons? Disease*
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States announced the
launch of an investigation on ?Morgellons Disease? in January 2008 [1],
after receiving thousands of complaints from people with this
bewildering condition, which it describes as follows [2]: ?Persons who
suffer from this unexplained skin condition report a range of cutaneous
(skin) symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations;
granules, threads, fibers, or black speck-like materials on or beneath
the skin, and/or skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). In addition to
skin manifestations, some sufferers also report fatigue, mental
confusion, short term memory loss, joint pain, and changes in visions.?
Trying to uncover the cause of Morgellans
<http://weazlsrevenge.blogspot.com/2008/08/trying-to-uncover-cause-of-morgellans.html>
By Da Weaz(Da Weaz)
Primary *clusters* were noted in Los Angeles and San Francisco
(California) and Houston, Dallas and Austin (Texas). California
accounted for 26 percent of cases in the US, but all 50 US states and 15
other nations, including Canada, *...*
Weazl's Revenge - http://weazlsrevenge.blogspot.com/
<http://weazlsrevenge.blogspot.com/>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Investigation of Novel Organism Implicated in Morgellons Disease *
*CLONGEN LABORATORIES* <http://www.morgellons.org/clogen1.htm>
http://www.morgellons.org/
*Introduction and Background: *
Morgellons disease was first described 1674 and the term ?Morgellons?
was later reintroduced in 2002 to define an undiagnosed mysterious
illness that afflicts tens or more likely hundreds of thousands of
individuals in the United States and around the world. The
manifestations of the disease are consistent between sufferers in
different parts of the world with one uniform clinical sign and that is
the appearance of fibers of different colors that protrude out of the
skin in different parts of the body. In addition to the appearance of
fibers, patients describe painful deep lesions under the skin, rashes or
sores, chronic fatigue, mental confusion, brain fog, memory loss,
crawling, biting and stinging sensations and other psychological
symptoms that vary in severity between sufferers.
To this day, the medical community remains divided on the definition of
Morgellons disease and many still believe that it is a mental illness or
Delusions of Parasitosis despite the availability of substantial
compelling evidence that it is a real devastating disease that afflicts
unknown numbers of humans (and possibly animals) around the world. It
was not until recently that the CDC acknowledged that this is a real
disease with an unknown etiology. They stopped short of calling it a
contagious disease because little is known about the epidemiology of the
disease.
Some of Morgellons sufferers describe an environmental exposure incident
that preceded the onset of symptoms and others describe exposure to an
individual that has the disease. This disease is an infectious disease
in every sense of the word and has been reported to spread in
households. The mode of transmission is not yet confirmed although there
are reported cases of transmission through blood transfusion and others
through physical contact with someone showing symptoms.
The symptoms are debilitating and cause a great deal of morbidity. In
many cases, patients become disabled because of this disease, unable to
carry on with their lives, lose their jobs, homes and can no longer
afford the basics that we take for granted. Even worse than material
loss is the social impact, rejection, family breakdown and mistreatment
these patients receive from some members of the society and medical
community.
The Morgellons Foundation, founded by a scientist and a mother of an
infected child and led by a number of experienced clinicians and
professionals has been making a tremendous outreach effort to educate
the public and medical research community about this debilitating
disease. Today, there are more than 10,000 families worldwide registered
on the Morgellons Foundation website.
A CDC task force was formed in 2006 to investigate the epidemiology of
Morgellons, and a study protocol is being developed to launch the
investigation. We learned about the disease a year ago from a sufferer
and started a preliminary investigation in 2006. The descriptions of the
disease indicate that this is a systemic disease that has pulmonary,
urinary tract, digestive tract, skin and neurological involvement. The
complexity of the symptoms and the lack of a consistent clinical profile
among patients makes it very difficult to identify the causative
agent(s) especially that no one, up to date was able to isolate, culture
or identify the origin of the fibers that many have photographed. A
sizable library of images collected over the years showing auto
fluorescence under different wavelengths, electron microscopy images and
other high resolution images of the
fibers and skin lesions is posted on the web on different websites. We
have collected in our laboratory a number of images of unstained fibers
showing auto fluorescences with both the blue and red filters of an
epifluorescent microscope. It is clear that a thorough investigation is
in order to first identify the causative agent of this disease and
second to possibly study this organism /in vitro /if it can be cultured
in a laboratory environment in order to determine drug effectiveness and
a possible treatment strategy.
*Research Approach: *
Several investigators have been attempting to study the fibers isolated
from Morgellons patients. Biochemical studies as well as extensive
microscopy studies have been carried out. The information available
today is limited and does not provide an answer to what the causative
agent of Morgellons could be.
Although we truly believe that all efforts to investigate this disease
are of significance, we take a straightforward approach to the problem
and our focus is on identifying the organism using genetic methods and
tools available in our laboratory.
Based on the structures that we observed microscopically from a number
of Morgellons patients and the clinical profiles, we have reasons to
believe that this organism is not a virus or bacteria. *_We hypothesize
that this organism is a more complex fungus, algae or a novel parasite.
The fibers are most likely feeding structures as they have strong
resemblance to aerial hyphae observed in many fungal species._* Our
research is focused on genetic investigations of the DNA in lesions and
fibers. Our experiments will include assays that attempt to amplify any
bacterial sequences and identify them by DNA sequencing if present to
rule out or confirm that the organism is a bacteria as other
investigators have hypothesized.
*We believe that progress can be made using a genetics approach.
Specific Aims: *
1. To identify this organism (or organisms) on a genetic level based on
DNA sequence. Determining the genus and species would allow us to gain
more insights into the biology of this organism and therefore would
facilitate further steps in this investigation.
2. To establish a cDNA library from the fibers, clone the individual
cDNAs into DNA vectors and sequence at least 1000 colonies to gather as
much sequence information as possible. Once that aim is accomplished,
the sequences can be analyzed against published sequences to establish
an identity of this organism.
3. To culture this organism in the laboratory using enriched cell
culture media under conditions that are used in standard cell culture
laboratories. Once that is achieved, we will be able to study the
morphology and learn more about biochemical processes involved in
metabolism and toxicity to the host.
4. To investigate drug resistance. This can be accomplished using
different drugs used for organisms in the same class as the causative
agent of Morgellons disease. * *
*Experimental approach to Specific Aims: *
1. Clongen Labs use universal primers for identification of bacteria and
fungi by DNA sequencing. These procedures are offered as a service to
our clients and the assays are established and are performed on a
regular basis. These primer sets amplify regions of the DNA that are
conserved among eubacteria or fungi. Once a DNA product is obtained, we
sequence it using our in house sequencers and blast the results against
published sequences to obtain an identification of the organism. We have
been able to successfully amplify a conserved fungal region from fibers
obtained from a Morgellons patient and will sequence the product soon to
gather more information about the possible cause of this disease. We
have four different primer sets that amplify four known conserved
regions in the fungal genomes and will use all four to attempt
amplification of DNA extracted from Investigation of Novel Organism
Implicated in Morgellon?s fibers and lesions received from Morgellons
Patients. Our goal is to test at least 15 samples from different
patients and compare the findings.
2. Establishment of a cDNA library will be performed according to
standard molecular biology protocols and using commercial kits that are
optimized to produce the most comprehensive cDNA libraries. Cloning will
be carried out into a small DNA vector using TA cloning. Clones will be
analyzed separately for sequence of the inserts and sequences will be
gathered and analyzed against published sequences on different public
databases.
3. Using our cell culture facility, we will use different media
formulations in a 24 well format to culture the organism from a fresh
sample in the laboratory in a cell culture incubator in the presence of
5% CO2. If successful, /in vitro /studies of the structure, metabolism
and cell toxicity of the organism will be possible.
4. Once the above aims have been accomplished, it will be possible to
study drug resistance /in vitro /using different drug formulations
available commercially.
*Background on Clongen Labs.: *The company was founded and registered in
1999 in San Francisco , CA . The laboratory operations started in 2004
in Germantown , MD when the current laboratory facility was built. We
are a CLIA-certified laboratory and licensed by the Maryland Office of
Health and Mental Hygiene as a Clinical Laboratory. Our business is
divided into main divisions:
*Clinical Diagnostics and Contract Research*. We offer clinical testing
to patients (hospitals, medical centers, private physicians and other
reference labs) and we also work with the leading pharmaceutical
companies in the US and Europe , government agencies, Universities,
research institutions and other private organizations. We have extensive
expertise in Molecular Biology research and our laboratory is equipped
with state of the art equipment (6 real time PCR machines, 6
conventional PCR machines, gel imaging equipment, 14 incubators, 2 DNA
sequencers, 5 microscopes of different configurations and microscope
camera, and over 150 other pieces of equipment).
Dr. Kilani holds a B.S. in Medical Technology (JST, 83-88), M.S. in
Clinical Science (SFSU, 88-91) Ph.D. in Infectious Diseases and Immunity
from UC Berkeley (1994-1999) and did his postdoctoral training from
1999-2001 at Stanford University Medical School, Microbiology Program.
He has been working in the field of Molecular Diagnostics since.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morgellon's Disease: Mysterious Ecto-Parasites
http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/morgellons.htm
*Transcript of a Four Part Series on CBS 47 Jacksonville News*
Original article and video interview may be found *HERE*
<http://www.cbs47.com/news/reports/story.aspx?content_id=054BB3F6-AD04-44C8-BDA4-15B8ECA03DDD>
A mysterious skin disease is currently spreading across America, and
doctors are searching for answers on how to stop the epidemic.
The disease, called Morgellons Disease, is a parasite-like infection
that literally makes the infected person's skin crawl. The disease has
already been found in thousands of patients in Florida , Texas and
California.
?I would lay in the bed and it felt like an army of ants just crawling
over the bed, all over my body,? says one Morgellons Disease sufferer.
?It never goes away,? says another. ?It doesn't die, it doesn't leave.?
What sounds like a science fiction movie is actually real life for the
unlucky people who have contracted the disease which leaves painful
sores all over the body. The sores ooze blue fibers, white threads and
little black specks of sand-like material.
The worst part, patients say, is the creepy and constant sensation of
bugs crawling under their skin.
Also discouraging, is the patient's treatment by doctors, who have
little knowledge about the disease, and in specific cases have lacked
compassion for the sufferers.
?I was so humiliated from the three doctors that I went to, that I just
refused to go back,? said on patient.
Becky Bailey moved out of her Austin, Texas home and into a trailer
hoping to escape the bugs that torment her.
"We ripped out our carpet and burned our carpet and furniture and move
out into our R-V and they were still one me."
Without medical help, suffering families researched their symptoms on
their own by way of the internet. Finally, they were able to put a name
to their pain ? Morgellons.
The sickly skin disease has actually been around for centuries. In 1935,
an English physician wrote a paper about Morgellons including excerpts
from medical journals from the 1600's, describing the disease.
Unfortunately, not much was known then about Morgellons -- and not much
has been learned in the more than 400 years since.
What is known, is that many of people who may have it, suffer from these
symptoms: constant itching/crawling sensation, chronic fatigue, brain
fog or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder,
depression, joint swelling or hair loss
What you should do if you have these symptoms, is as puzzling as the
disease itself.
One woman in Pittsburgh, PA made it her mission to find out what causes
and what will cure this bizarre disease.
Mary Leitao is a biologist and the creator the Morgellons Research
Foundation in Pittsburgh.
Her goal is to get State Health Agencies and the Center for Disease
Control (CDC) to study this disease.
?It's inhumane that these people have been allowed to go home and have
been forced to research this day in and day out for years on their own,?
says Leitao.
Leitao's motivations come from her 6 year old boy Drew. Four years ago,
he began to feel the itch.
"He started describing bugs. He said, mommy, bugs, and he would scratch."
Then came the sores that shed the fibers. Mary took drew to the doctor
and the doctor said it was nothing to worry about.
"I was going to find an answer, or I was going to have to take my life,
that's all there was too it."
Doctors don't know what causes the disease, who is at risk and exactly
how many people may be suffering. The Morgellon Foundation says they
have about 12 hundred people registered on their site. Those are only
people who have a computer and happened to find them online.
In Jacksonville , more than a dozen cases have been found.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Anne Dill, standing in her backyard, looking over the lake is
physically and emotionally painful.
This silence and solitude serves as a constant reminder of what her
family is facing.
"We're going to lose everything, our house, our dreams," says Dill.
Five years ago, the dills bought their dream home in Lake City. They
spent most of their free time at their lake with friends, and thought
life was pretty close to perfect.
Then, three years ago, Anne, her husband and their four children all got
/very /sick at the /very /same time.
They think they have Morgellons, even though they have no idea how they
would have contracted it.
Morgellons is an unusual parasite-like skin disease, which produces
irritating sores all over the body.
These sores ooze blue fibers, white threads and little black specks of
sand-like material.
The Dills say they're also plagued with a constant, creepy crawling
feeling of bugs under their skin.
However, the most agonizing symptom is the chronic fatigue. The Dills
are so tired and so weak, they spend nearly all of their time, at home.
The father, Tom Dill is the sickest. Along with the Morgellons, he's
developed signs of Lou Gehrig's disease. It's a neurological disorder
that robbed him of his muscle control. He's now bound to a wheelchair
and has trouble speaking. Tom doesn't know if his two conditions are
related. That has him worried about his children.
?I don't want to believe that what happened to me, happened to them."
But answers are hard to come by. In fact, doctors tell them the "bugs"
they feel and sores they see, are only in their minds. In medical terms,
they are delusional parasitosis.
"I don't know how a doctor couldn't see that, it's ridiculous, I can see
it, I know there's something there, I'm like a freshman in high school
and I know that there's something wrong."
Doctor Hardesh Garg is an internal medicine specialist in Jacksonville.
He isn't surprised by the reaction the dills have been getting from doctors.
"A lot of times, not all of us, who feel like, if it doesn't exist in my
medical book, it really doesn't exist and it must be a figment of your
imagination," says Garg.
Doctor Garg has never seen a patient with Morgellons. However, he says
this skin condition needs to be studied.
?Until we know what's causing it, can't say if it's infectious or not or
how dangerous it is."
No doctors on the First Coast or Florida could be found who know
anything about Morgellons. However, not all hope is lost. One medical
professional in Austin, Texas may have found a clue to the Morgellon's
mystery.
Ginger Savely is a nurse practitioner who specializes in treating the
tick borne Lyme disease. She also has first hand experience with the
mystery disease.
"Right now I think I have about twenty eight Morgellons patients," says
Savely.
According to Savely, the anti-biotics she gives to patients with Lyme
are also working on some Morgellon's patients.
But this treatment is also unproven, and since doctors don't know if
it's contagious, the Dills say their home is now their prison.
So, the Dills spend a lot of quality time together. Five year old Hanna
has been one of the Dill's secrets to survival, as her love for singing
songs keeps the family entertained.
Recently researchers have been uncovered who have just published a study
on an unknown skin disease with the /exact /same symptoms.
It is promising research that points to a critter that could be lurking
in your home, and research the Dills may feel that every family should
look into.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Since the CBS47 investigation began digging into the Morgellons mystery,
dozens of people on the First Coast have been in contact, desperately
looking for help.
One of these people is a nurse who lives in Saint John's Country. Her
story is a striking example of how most patients with this bizarre skin
disease are shut out by their doctors.
At the end of another exhausting day for Jane Waldoch, "I go to bed at
8:30 , 9 o'clock. I feel like a little old lady and I'm 51 years old."
Jane's fatigue is one of the many symptoms she has of the mystery skin
disease, some call Morgellon's.
As a nurse for 24 years, her first reaction was to see a doctor.
However, that is where her trouble began.
"I'm absolutely disappointed, disillusioned and very, very angry at the
medical community,? says Waldoch.
In the past year, she's been referred to all kinds of doctors.
"Internal medicine, multiple dermatologists, infectious disease, then it
went to Rheumatology, Endocrinology, Neurology..." she says.
The doctors saw the sores, but couldn't figure out what was causing them.
"They'd look at me and say, ?Its dry skin, quit worrying about it.' I'm
saying, 'This is the weirdest dry skin I've ever seen in my life!'"
Still, she followed doctors' orders, and took her medications; all two
dozen bottles of them.
But none of these drugs worked. So Jane began collecting samples of what
was coming out of her skin. She thought it would help her doctors
diagnose this bizarre and painful skin condition.
She was wrong.
Doctors took it as a sign that Jane was delusional.
"One of the hallmark clues to delusional parasitosis is what they call
the matchbox sign. I guess in the older days people would take their
samples in little match boxes to their physician," she says.
Mary Leitao from the Morgellons foundation says patients would do this
to prove they were telling the truth.
Jane says she finds fibers that look like crunched up bugs in her sheets
every morning. They come from the dozens of sores that cover her arms,
legs, back and neck.
"I never thought I'd be in this position, of being embarrassed with who
I am, and what I look like."
However, Jane is coming forward, hoping her story will help find a cure,
especially for the youngest victims.
Jane is not the only case of the mystery disease found on the first
coast. More than 100 people have confirmed they have been suffering from
the exact same symptoms, some for as long two decades. Many of them have
been diagnosed with delusions of parasitosis.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
One research foundation estimates that there are more than 13-hundred
people across the country with Morgellons symptoms.
The /true /number may be a lot higher.
Mary Leitao is a biologist and the executive director of the Morgellons
Foundation. The foundation is studying this mysterious skin disease.
They call it Morgellons -- because it looks and sounds exactly like an
infection doctors wrote about in the 1600's.
However, 400 years later, these stories don't add up to a diagnosis.
However, researchers may be getting the help they need to find a major
breakthrough.
Deborah Altschuler is the president of the National Pediculosis
Association in Boston, Massachusetts. The foundation was created to
increase awareness about head lice and protect children from pesticides.
Altschuler has been studying a disease that sounds exactly like
Morgellons disease.
?People were calling us with very similar symptoms from all over the
country,? says Altschuler.
The NPA teamed up with the Oklahoma State Department of Health to study
the creepy crawlers.
They took skin samples from 20 patients who claim they have the bugs,
but were diagnosed by their doctors as delusional.
Researchers found collembolan, a microscopic critter, in 18 of the 20
patients.
Collembola feed on algae, bacteria and decaying matter. They thrive in
wet or damp surroundings, and can be found under leaky kitchen or
bathroom sinks, swimming pools, and the soil of potted plants.
The report was published in the journal of the New York Entomological
Association. However, it wasn't enough evidence to get the centers for
disease control to take action.
The CDC told Altschuler that the collembola was not a danger to humans,
even though she says the CDC has shown her no specific study to prove it.
The Morgellons Foundation says it was also shot down by the CDC.
If the research on the collembola is right, researchers still have to
figure out how serious these critters are to your health, and they have
to find out how to kill them.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morgellons Research Foundation
Attention - Mary Leitao
Executive Director
21 August 2008
Hi Mary
I am a founding director of WEEP - Wireless Electrical and
Electromagnetic Pollution, www.weepinitiative.org . We are a group based
in Ontario, Canada who help persons affected by electro magnetic
radiation (EMR) and raise awareness about the terrible health effects of
EMR.
I am been reading about Morgellons Disease and recognize many of the
symptoms as being similar to the symptoms of persons who are electro
hypersensitive (EHS) and who suffer from microwave sickness. I suffer
from electro hypersensitivity and have also experienced several of the
symptoms reported by Morgellons sufferers. While I have not suffered
from the fibres and sores etc, I have had itchy swollen and dry skin
problems on my finger joints and elbows. I know the cause of my illness
and sensitivity is caused by exposure to electrical fields, electro
magnetic fields and electro magnetic radiation. When I keep my EMR
exposure to a minimum, I can function quite normally.
Persons who suffer from EMR have a variety of different symptoms which
vary widely from person to person. Several EHS sufferers have told me
that they feel the itching of insect like crawling under their skin. I
strongly believe that Morgellons sufferers may be electrosensitive and
may be suffering from exposure to electro magnetic radiation. During the
last few years EMR has become so widespread that it is often difficult
to get away from. Much exposure to EMR can be controlled in people's homes.
I am hoping that you will find a volunteer group of Morgellons sufferers
who will ensure that their levels of electro magnetic radiation is
drastically reduced for several days to see if that helps their
condition. Here are the most important steps that the volunteers should
do -
1. Do not used cell phones except in an emergency, and keep any cell
phones switched off until needed.
2. Unplug any cordless telephones (must be unplugged) and only use
telephones that are wired into the phone outlets.
3. Remove any Wi Fi systems from the home or office and only use wired
connections.
4. Keep computer use and TV viewing to a minimum.
5. Do not use a microwave oven.
6. Do not use any wireless games or other wireless devices.
7. When sleeping, turn off all electricity to the bedroom and areas
surrounding the bedroom (including above and below) at the mains panel.
If several persons in different locations were to try these suggestions,
we would have a good idea whether electro magnetic radiation is causing
or affecting their conditions. You should also be aware that a strong
external source of EMR, such as a powerful antenna in the neighbourhood,
will negate or significantly affect the results. I hope that you will
visit our web site (above) and also www.bioinitiative.org , a scientific
site which refers to thousands of studies showing the health effects of
electro magnetic radiation. I would also be pleased to send you some
scientific studies about the health effects of EMR, if requested.
Even if this suggestion leads to no improvement in Morgellons, reduced
exposure to electro magnetic radiation is likely to be very beneficial
to health in the long run.
Yours sincerely
Martin Weatherall
Co-Director WEEP
[ http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=microwave+sickness
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=electromagnetic
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=EMR
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=immune+system
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=hypersensitive
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=microwave+radiation
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=calcium+efflux ]