Q & A Library

Morgellons disease is a diagnosis that has been adopted by clusters of patients in the South and in California as an explanation for a constellation of symptoms including slow healing sores, joint pain, persistent fatigue and a sensation of things crawling through the skin. I don't know what these symptoms actually add up to, but I can tell you that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is launching an investigation. CDC researchers will conduct physical and psychological evaluations of people who say they're affected and will also look into environmental factors that might be involved. CDC spokesman Dan Rutz told me that at the present time there's no reason to think that the symptoms are infectious or contagious.

The recent history of the disorder is an interesting glimpse into how the Internet links people with shared symptoms. A woman from South Carolina whose young son had strange threadlike extrusions coming out of his skin as well as sores that wouldn't heal couldn't get any help (or a diagnosis) from the doctors she consulted. Her own Internet research led her to a 17th century medical study describing the symptoms and identifying them as Morgellons disease. She then created a Web site and was inundated by email from people who said they had the same thing.

I have no firsthand experience with the disorder, so I can only go by what I've read about it. The New York Times recently reported that when the skin extrusions have been tested in the lab, they've been described as plant or textile material. The same article also reported that many who believe they have Morgellons test positive for Lyme disease and that certain antibacterial and antiparasitic medications sometimes help.

Some physicians have suggested that Morgellons bears a resemblance to delusional parasitosis, in which patients are convinced that their bodies are harboring hidden parasites, and won't accept evidence that they're not. And, of course, some physicians just think people with Morgellons are generally mentally unbalanced, which isn't very helpful to distraught patients looking for help.

I'll be very interested to learn what the CDC investigation concludes.

Andrew Weil, M.D.