Morgellons disease

Category: Illness or disabilities

Type

Involuntary

Introduction and description

Morgellons disease (MD) is an emerging skin, muscle, nervous and joint  disease with worldwide distribution.  It is characterized by multicoloured filaments that lie under, are embedded in, or project from skin.  

There are still a number of branches of the medical profession that treat this as a ‘delusional disorder’.  There are some quite shameful papers on PubMed of case studies where patients who actually bring the evidence are treated with anti-psychotics.  Needless to say these patients do not return for treatment, and are thus presumed ‘cured’.  A presumption which is entirely inaccurate.

At the moment the disease is classified by the medical profession as ‘rare’, but this may be a result of mis-diagnosis of the sort mentioned above.  It has appeared in a recognised cluster in California.  Furthermore Morgellons was acknowledged in London in another study, where from 2003 to 2008, 18 patients were found with the disease.

In contrast, The Morgellons Research Foundation have received queries from thousands upon thousands of people describing their sores and fibres, as well as neurological symptoms, fatigue, and muscle and joint pain.  The MRF have received reports of Morgellons from all 50 US states and 15 other countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands, and states that it has been contacted by over 12,000 families.

Joni Mitchell, the singer, has extremely severe Morgellons causing her intense suffering, Mitchell was hospitalised for Morgellons disease

Some background

In 2001, Mary Leitao’s two-year-old son developed sores under his lip and began to complain of "bugs".  People who have been mis-prescribed pharmaceuticals as well as illegal drug takers often develop skin lesions and experience tactile hallucinations.  There are even some over the counter pharmaceuticals that can produce both violent tactile hallucinations and terrifying visual hallucinations.  The hallucinations are nearly always of ‘insects’.  This LINK provides more details and provides a number of observations of people who have suffered.  The hallucinations incidentally are not uncommon, many many pharmaceuticals produce hallucinations.  This LINK takes you to all the thousands of pharmaceuticals that have – as stated on the Adverse Drug Reports from doctors themselves and submitted to the FDA and SEDA – produced hallucinations in the USA.  

The doctors usually prescribe anti-psychotics for them even though it is their mis-prescribing that caused the problem.  It is known in the medical literature as  ‘Delusional parasitosis, or delusional infestation or Ekbom's syndrome. 

BUT, when Leitao examined the sores, she discovered red, blue, black, and white fibres.  This poor lass took her son to see at least eight different doctors who all dismissed the symptoms or tried to give the two year old anti-psychotics.  Some even suggested she was psychologically unhinged and had done this to her son herself in order to gain attention.  Another opportunity to sell yet more anti-psychotics.

Over time, Leitao’s son developed yet more sores, and more fibres continued to poke out of them. She and her husband, Edward Leitao, an internist with South Allegheny Internal Medicine in Pennsylvania, felt their son had "something unknown". She chose the name Morgellons disease from a description of an illness in the medical case-history essay, A Letter to a Friend (c. 1656, pub. 1690) by Sir Thomas Browne, where the physician describes "that endemial distemper of children in Languedoc, called the morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh hairs on their backs". 

Note that the disease described by Browne may not be the same as the disease experienced here, although where ticks are involved it might be [more in a moment].

Leitao started the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) informally in 2002 and as an official non-profit in 2004.  The MRF states on its website that its purpose is to raise awareness and funding for research into the proposed condition, described by the organization as a "poorly understood illness, which can be disfiguring and disabling".  As you can see from the photos this is a most accurate description.

Symptoms

The distinguishing feature of MD is the appearance of skin lesions with filaments that lie under, are embedded in, or project from skin.  Filaments can be white, black, or brightly coloured.  MD patients also experience fatigue, joint and muscle pain, and neuropathy.

Unpleasant skin sensations like bugs, burning or stinging sensations may take place. There is intense itching and skin sores heal very gradually and appear suddenly. Sores leave the skin red.  There can be hair loss, even loss of teeth, sleep deficits and memory loss.

MD filaments are not textile fibres, they are biofilaments of human cellular origin produced by epithelial cells and stem from deeper layers of the epidermis, the upper layers of the dermis, and the root sheath of hair follicles.  These filaments are predominantly composed of collagen and keratin, and are nucleated at the base of attachment to epithelial cells, thus demonstrating human cellular origin.  At least some MD fibers are human hairs.  Independent studies using different methodologies provided evidence that Morgellons fibres are hairlike extrusions and that the blue coloration found in them is the result of melanin pigmentation.

Staining of embedded filaments with Congo red has resulted in apple-green birefringence suggestive of an amyloid component, although this remains to be confirmed by more specific studies.  

Amyloids are aggregates of proteins that become folded into a shape that allows many copies of that protein to stick together forming fibrils. In the human body, amyloids have been linked to the development of various diseases. Pathogenic amyloids form when previously healthy proteins lose their normal physiological functions and form fibrous deposits in plaques around cells which can disrupt the healthy function of tissues and organs.

Staining of embedded filaments with calcofluor-white produced negative results in research, demonstrating that filaments are not cellulose as found in cotton, linen, or other plant-based textile fibers, or chitin as found in fungal cells and insect exoskeletons.  In other words all the fibres are being produced by the body itself in a reaction to a pathogen or toxin, which is disrupting cellular processes.

Causes

Something is disrupting the collagen and keratin producing process of the skin, and of the cells containing collagen in the body – thus explaining the muscle aches and nervous system problems.

Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular space in the various connective tissues in animal bodies. As the main component of connective tissue, it is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up from 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content. Collagen consists of amino acids wound together to form triple-helices to form of elongated fibrils. It is mostly found in fibrous tissues such as tendons, ligaments and skin.

Depending upon the degree of mineralization, collagen tissues may be rigid (bone), compliant (tendon), or have a gradient from rigid to compliant (cartilage).

Collagen is also abundant in corneas, cartilage, bones, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs, and the dentin in teeth.  As such we can see that all the symptoms of teeth falling out , bone problems, eye problems , muscle pain and so on can all be traced back to some mis-production of collagen.  This disease may thus be a marker for a host of equally serious if not more serious diseases that are not affecting the skin - cataracts, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatism, fibromyalgia etc etc.

The fibroblast is the most common cell that creates collagen. The filaments are composed of keratin and collagen, and it is hypothesised that the skin problems result from proliferation/disruption of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in epithelial tissue.

Parasites and  bacteria

At least some of the cases are thought to be caused by tickborne infection.  Culture, histopathological and molecular evidence of spirochetal infection associated with MD has been presented in several published studies using a variety of techniques.

Spirochetes genetically identified as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto predominate as the infective agent in most of the Morgellons skin specimens studied so far. Other species of Borrelia including Borrelia garinii, Borrelia miyamotoi, and Borrelia hermsii have also been detected in skin specimens taken from MD patients. Borrelia burgdorferi is a bacterial species of the spirochete class of the genus Borrelia. B. burgdorferi.

The presence of these bacteria however does not explain why Morgellons filaments are formed.  As we have seen, collagen and keratin filaments arise from proliferative keratinocytes and fibroblasts in human epithelial tissue.

Borrelia has the capability to invade fibroblasts and keratinocytes and to replicate inside these cells.  Researchers have speculated that infection and replication of Borrelia within keratinocytes and fibroblasts alter keratin and collagen gene regulation. Furthermore, ’intracellular sequestration of Borrelia may be a factor contributing to the development of refractory infection and MD’.

But, it is gradually being realised that the ticks that cause – in this case a version of Lyme disease – may harbour not just bacteria, but a host of other organisms.  One of the organisms found on the tick is a microfilarial worm.  Mites and other insects have also been shown to carry a host of bacteria and worms. 

Antibiotics

One of the fascinating aspects of this, is that as we attempt to kill off bacteria and insects, their defence mechanisms have become progressively more and more sophisticated.  Bacteria, for example, now carry extremely potent ‘phages’ in their defence.   Microfilarial worms also live symbiotically with bacteria. They protect the bacteria from being exterminated by antibiotics.  As such science’s strategy of ‘kill everything’, has resulted in other organisms developing highly sophisticated symbiotic defence mechanisms.

We are reaping what we have sown, although the tragedy is that it is innocent children who are now reaping what science has sown.

Borrelia spirochetes have been isolated in vitro from monolayers of keratinocytes and fibroblasts that were treated with antibiotics.  Spirochetes were detected in MD dermatological tissue taken from patients who had been given aggressive antibiotic therapy.  Persistent infection and resistance to antibiotic treatment may therefore result from sequestration of Borrelia spirochetes within keratinocytes and fibroblasts in MD patients.

Other pathogens have also been detected in Morgellons tissue samples. Strains of Helicobacter pylori and closely related bacteria were detected along with Borrelia spp. in tissue samples from MD lesions. One study detected Treponema denticola along with Borrelia spp. in some Morgellons specimens, while another study found H. pylori, T. denticola, and Bartonella henselae in Morgellons specimens.

Antibiotics are generally taken by mouth.  By taking antibiotics this way it is well established that we compromise the immune system that is the intestinal flora of our gut.  Antibiotics do not discriminate between ‘good bacteria’ and ‘bad bacteria’ and the intestine is host to a garden of varied bacteria, viruses and even tiny parasites that work together to process food and also repel pathogens. 

By destroying the intestinal flora with antibiotics we effectively enable pathogens to enter the blood stream – and as we see above those pathogens can be of numerous sorts.  What the body is doing in Morgellons is expelling the pathogens that have entered the blood stream and lymph system via the skin, in much the same way it expels viruses such as measles via oozing pus filled spots.  As long as the pus is washed away with clean water all the time, the pathogens effectively get expelled and then removed from the body. 

The symptoms are in this case an indication of extremely serious infestation of the body, but the positive thing to remember here is that the immune system is doing its level best to expel them – however horrendous the symptoms may be.

 

Genetically engineered crops and agrobacterium

Agrobacterium tumefaciens (updated scientific name Rhizobium radiobacter, synonym Agrobacterium radiobacter) is a rod-shaped, Gram-negative soil bacterium.  It is the causal agent of crown gall disease (the formation of tumours) in over 140 species of eudicots.  

Symptoms are caused by the insertion of a small segment of DNA (known as the T-DNA, for 'transfer DNA'), from a plasmid, into the plant cell, which is incorporated at a semi-random location into the plant genome.  To be virulent, the bacterium must contain a tumour-inducing plasmid, which contains the T-DNA and all the genes necessary to transfer it to the plant cell.

The DNA transmission capabilities of Agrobacterium have been vastly explored in biotechnology as a means of inserting foreign genes into plants, in other words the genetic engineering of plants. Marc Van Montagu and Jeff Schell, (University of Ghent and Plant Genetic Systems, Belgium) discovered the gene transfer mechanism between Agrobacterium and plants.  But once discovered a whole host of companies have developed methods to alter the bacterium into an efficient delivery system for genetic engineering in plants.

A genetically modified plant is one that has had DNA introduced into it using genetic engineering techniques. In 1994 the first genetically modified soybean was introduced to the U.S. market, by Monsanto. In 2014, 90.7 million hectares of GM soy were planted worldwide, 82% of the total soy cultivation area .  Other GMO crops have followed.  As there is no regulation and no monitoring in the USA, the consumer never knows whether crops are GMO or not.  The plasmid from the CP4 strain of the bacteria, Agrobacterium tumefaciens is inserted, along with the DNA one wishes to use to change the plant, into the soybean germplasm with a gene gun to produce the GMO plant.

As such a GMO plant also contains the plasmid from the CP4 strain of the bacteria, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.  Under laboratory conditions, the T-DNA from Agrobacterium tumefaciens has also been transferred to human cells.  In other words this same organism can genetically engineer human beings.

The mechanism by which Agrobacterium inserts materials into the host cell is by a type IV secretion system which is very similar to mechanisms used by pathogens to insert materials (usually proteins) into human cells by type III secretion. It also employs a type of signalling conserved in many Gram-negative bacteria called quorum sensing.

If we put this simply.  GMO foods have the capability of genetically engineering humans without our knowledge  and of introducing disease in order to remove the unwanted.

so now you know.  There is more via this LINK. 

Vaccines

I will now turn to the description for Andrew Crosse.  If you scroll down the page to the observations you will find three observations describing how Andrew managed to apparently grow acari [little microrganisms/insects] in an apparenty hostile environment of mercury and other crystalline solutions under the influence of electricity [see above picture]. 

He faithfully documented the research, but he was never able to explain how this happened other than suggest that there may be minute organisms present on glass, or in the original ingredients he placed in the vials which were dormant until stimulated by the electric current, at which point they started to grow and become visible.  Once ‘hatched’ they could not survive the original hostile environment , but as long as they had been able to get away from it they lived quite successfully. 

A vaccine consists of a pathogen, an adjuvant and an excipient.  Some vaccines contain mercury in the form of thiomersal, most vaccines contain crystalline content.  They are extremely similar to Andrew’s vials and furthermore, the very environment in which we live with its wi-fi, 5g - producing very strong concentrations of radioactivity/emf's.- the HAARP programs and other forms of radiation, act in similar ways to the sort of electricity Andrew was using.

The development stages of Morgellons also appear remarkably similar to the development stages of Andrew Crosse’s insects.

There is thus the real possibility that these pathogens, because that seems to be what they are in some cases come from vaccines and grow in the ideal conditions vaccines and our electrical environment create.

Pharmaceuticals, crystalline food additives, pesticides and insecticides

A microorganism or microbe[a] is a microscopic organism, which may exist in its single-celled form, or in a colony of cells.  Microorganisms include all unicellular organisms, and so are extremely diverse. Of the three domains of life, all of the Archaea, and Bacteria are microorganisms. The third domain Eukaryota includes all multicellular organisms, but many of the multicellular organisms are also microscopic, namely micro-animals, some fungi and some algae.

Some are the pathogens responsible for many infectious diseases.  In the 1850s, Louis Pasteur found that microorganisms caused food spoilage, for example, and in the 1880s Robert Koch discovered that microorganisms caused the diseases tuberculosis, cholera, and anthrax.

Pharmaceuticals, many food additives, insecticides, pesticides and so on are based on oil.  And microbes can survive very happily on and in oil.  They are anaerobic [need no oxygen], feed on oil and gas, and go into a hibernatory state when food is not available.

There is thus the real possibility that products made from oil, may contain microbes, including the pharmaceuticals we ingest or inject – which include vaccines, food additives, as well as the pesticides and insecticides sprayed on our food.  Up to now the high levels of contamination found in pharmaceuticals and food additives, has been assumed to come from contamination, but maybe it hasn’t, maybe it was just waiting for the right conditions

Nanoparticles

 Skin is structured in three layers: the epidermis, the dermis and the subcutaneous layer. The outer layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum (SC), covers the entire outside of the body and only contains dead cells, which are strongly keratinized. For most chemicals the SC is the rate- limiting barrier to percutaneous absorption (penetration), but there are some chemicals that are the exception and these are the submicron particles known as nanoparticles.

Our site contains considerable evidence that nanoparticles cause DNA damage and disrupt cells.  We could find no research from papers on PubMed of its links with Morgellons, principally because there is great deal of money to be made from nanotechnology and all of it is being poured into how it can be used and none into the side effects of using it.  This terrifying situation should have set alarm bells ringing years ago, but it hasn’t.  There is no regulation at the moment requiring manufacturers to state the use of nanoparticles in consumer products.

Titanium nanoparticles

We have an entire section describing all the damage caused by Titanium and Titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide is used in sunscreens, make-up and cosmetics including lipstick.   It is used as a tattoo pigment.  Titanium dioxide is employed as a pigment to provide whiteness to medicines i.e. pills and tablets as well as toothpaste. It is unknown whether nanoparticles have been used, because manufacturers are under no obligation to state this. 

Food grade TiO2 (E171) is a synthetic additive, and widely used as a colouring agent in many foods, confectionary, pharmaceutical and personal care products. A few reports have highlighted that insoluble particulates (less than 200nm) of food grade TiO2 are found in many manufactured foods.

Silicon nanoparticles

Silicon nanoparticles have also been implicated in causing Morgellons and in this case a dedicated doctor has been attempting to publicise his own research and findings to help victims.  Silica is found in thousands of products such as computer chips but very few contain nanoparticles and few actually produce nanoparticles from wear and tear.  The one exception to this is breast implants:

Silver and other nanoparticles

Cloud seeding is a form of weather modification, a way of changing the amount or type of precipitation that falls from clouds, by dispersing substances into the air that serve as cloud condensation or ice nuclei. The usual intent is to increase precipitation (rain or snow), but hail and fog suppression are also widely practiced in airports. 
The most common chemicals used for cloud seeding include silver iodide, potassium iodide and dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and nanoparticle size spraying has been known.  It is quite possibly this spraying that has led to the fear of ‘chemtrails’.  There is proof in this paper that silver nanoparticles cause skin lesions

‘Experts’  have said the risk from ‘the minute amounts of silver generated by cloud seeding’, is not significant being 'about one percent of industry emissions into the atmosphere in many parts of the world', which hardly fills one with confidence.  The question then becomes well does industry spew out silver nanoparticles too?  And the answer appears to be yes .

But adherence is another thing entirely.

 

Treatment

Find the cause.  As there can be more than one cause it is essential that you do this, as the treatment is obviously going to depend on the cause. 

Avoid all GMO crops.  Go organic so that you also avoid all foods sprayed with insecticides etc.
Reconsider your use of pharmaceuticals if you are taking them.  Explore and research to find if there is a plant based alternative to what you are taking.  If you do not know the cause of these illnesses either it is imperative you do so.  Pharmaceuticals treat symptoms and not causes.

Diagnosis

The approach that helps the most with finding pathogens is called Metagenomic testing.  These tests are gradually being offered more and more by ‘functional’ doctors – that is doctors whose specific approach is designed to find the cause of illness and treat the cause, as opposed to our current symptom based doctors who in ten minutes of consultation, name the symptoms and prescribe pharmaceuticals to suppress the symptoms whilst the cause proceeds unchallenged.  You will be able to identify a functional doctor because he will not be anywhere near as rich as his drug dealer counterpart, and also by the fact his patients are cured, and he will look happy as he is able to sleep at night with a clear conscience.

Treatment

One remedy – not supported by any papers but only because it is to all intents and purposes safe and ‘free’ is a combination of a salt and vitamin C diet.  It is used with parasites and parasitic worms.  According to the people belonging to the Morgellons disease self help group this treatment has worked:

We have seen articles on alternatives for this with kale and pink salt, which are in essence the same, as kale contains a lot of vitamin C.

Better not to take supplements, better to add the salt to your food and eat plenty of organic fruit and vegetables containing vitamin C.  Three meals a day with salt added plus fruit is an easy, inexpensive and safe way to help yourself.  Even if it doesn’t work it does no harm.  Drink plenty of clean fluoride free water.  Again the self help group says:

For help with intestinal flora destruction from antibiotics, please go to the section on Intestine disease.

For more details please go to the Morgellons Research website where more help can be found.

References and further reading

• Int J Gen Med. 2016; 9: 349–354. Published online 2016 Oct 14. doi:  10.2147/IJGM.S116608 PMCID: PMC5072536 - Morgellons disease: a filamentous borrelial dermatitis - Marianne J Middelveen and Raphael B Stricker, International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society, Bethesda, MD, USA
• Scientific American - How Microbes Helped Clean BP's Oil Spill The microscopic organisms bloomed in the wake of the Macondo well disaster By David Biello on April 28, 2015
• Ther Clin Risk Manag. 2010; 6: 443–448. Published online 2010 Oct 5. doi:  10.2147/TCRM.S12253 PMCID: PMC2952482 Microbial contamination of nonsterile pharmaceuticals in public hospital settings - Veronica Mugoyela1 and Kennedy D Mwambete2
• 2017 Mar;13(9). doi: 10.1002/smll.201602363. Epub 2016 Dec 22.  5 nm Silver Nanoparticles Amplify Clinical Features of Atopic Dermatitis in Mice by Activating Mast Cells.  Kang H1, Kim S1, Lee KH2, Jin S2, Kim SH2, Lee K3, Jeon H3, Song YG3, Lee SW4, Seo J1, Park S1, Choi IH1.

Related observations

Healing observations

• I'm healing from my morgellons and wanted to offer hope 026866

Hallucination

• Morgellons disease: a filamentous borrelial dermatitis 027628