“Bugs,” the two year old boy said as he pointed to an irritated patch of skin on his face. Mary Leitao looked closer, and although she found no visible insects, she was startled to find colored fibers sprouting from her son’s skin. It was a summer evening in 2001 that would change the lives of the Leitao family for years to come.
A medical researcher turned stay-at home mom, Leitao had never
seen anything like it and neither had her husband, Edward, an internist at South Allegheny Internal Medicine. Mary Leitao took her son to be examined by numerous doctors, but none provided a satisfactory explanation. Many suggested that it was a form of psychosis called “delusional infestation” or the conviction of being infected with parasites.
Believing instead that she had discovered a new disease, Leitao named the condition Morgellons and in 2004 established a non-profit organization called the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF).
Through the efforts of the MRF, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) conducted a three-year government study to research Morgellons. The results, released last week, indicated that there was no diseased organisms or parasites present in the 115 case-patients. The protruding fibers were found to be mostly skin fragments or clothing fibers stuck to the skin and, according to the report, the physical ailments were manifestations of “delusional infestation.”
According to a recent article in WebMD, individuals with delusional infestation tend to be hyper-aware of normal body sensations and interpret them as medical illness. The article notes, “This stress has real physical effects on the body and leads to a spiral of worsening physical symptoms...”
The suggestion that thoughts and stress can be manifested as physical maladies may be counterintuitive to anatomy-based medicine, but research increasingly supports the idea. For instance, The Washington Post reported, "Nocebos [inert pills provided with a negative expectation] often cause a physical effect, but it's not a physically produced effect," said Irving Kirsch, a psychologist at the University of Connecticut in Storrs who studies the ways that expectations influence what people experience.
Article comments
1 - Daniel R. Siedelmann
I know how to treat Morgellon's disease.
The fibers are proteins or more specifically prions. I was dying from another prion disease and I am as good as any Nobel prize winner in chemistry. So I became an independent researcher on myself.
In Kiwi is a rare earth element which works in combination with chlorine already present in the human body to precipitate the aluminum silicate mineral kaolinite in the stool. The thing that makes the prions is similar in chemistry to a sodalite mineral sodium aluminum silicate sulfate. Pull the aluminum silicate away and the prions stop being made. Many long term degenerative symptoms of disease simply go away.
A second chemical catalyst which works with the chemical catalyst above is cerium in apples or applesauce and bromine in tomatoes or tomato sauce. This one is called Belousov's oscillator but has been known to be beneficial for health since the middle ages.
So eat a Kiwi, applesauce, and tomato sauce daily and in about a week examine the stool in the toilet. It looks like there is sand in the stool.
It shall take several months to pull enough aluminum silicate out of the human body to get relief from a major long term degenerative disease.
2 - NorCalCS
Thanks for the article, Bill. One of your best.
3 - Suzanne Michaels
Dear all, is there any chance some of the people suffering from Morgellon's actually are GLUTEN INTOLERANT?? We thought my Mom had Morgellon's for 10 years... and then found out about gluten intolerance. She stopped eating wheat (it's in everything, you'd be surprised)... and in three days her rash, creepy crawly feeling, and itching totally stopped. After 10 years.
4 - Paddy McGee
@ Suzanne, how long has your mom been clear of symptoms? Also, did her symptoms include filaments or fibers, and how does that relate to gluten intolerance?
5 - Louise
Hi, I've been trying to figure out what the heck is going on with my skin, having seen these fibers grow out, and thinking I'm losing my mind? I know exactly how I got this. In 2008 I was exposed to air that I was bleeding out of an old boiler system. This story is too long to explain, but my point is that 2 yeras ago my bladder started to have problem and this year my bowels are affected. I'm just wondering if you know of anyone in Ontario Canada that could help me PLEASE? I will try what you have suggested and hope to hear from you asd well in case you know of any Dr. that I could see for help. I figure that it's better to ask and speak out, seeing that you understand what we live with. I live in silence while living with this because of how I was treated by my Dr. when I first tried to get help. This is awfull not knowing were to go for help. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my post. Sincerely, Louise
6 - Deborah
I have suffered from morgellons for over 9 months, I live in the UK. What some people don't realise is that this is not just lesions appearing on the skin. My cats were first infested. One of them got sores on her back and starting losing her fur. I thought we were fighting feline mites of some sort. My whole family were affected. I bought malathion used for human scabies to treat the family. Fortunately my husband and two sons were cured after using up to 4 treatments of malathion, this works in the early stages. I must have been more exposed than my family as I have not been able to get rid of it. This has been the worst experience of my life. Can you imagine feeling things moving under your skin from your head to your feet, especially after 4 pm. You put oils like eucalyptus on your face you then feel these things ( parasites) move to your eyes and inside your nose. You can't sleep unless you smother yourself in something that stops the movement,itching and biting. Most doctors don't believe this is real, they call it delusional parasitoses. I don't know how they can diagnose this when people have lesions and strange objects coming out your skin. Some have committed suicide as they are not believed or helped by
doctors. The feel totally helpess, hopeless and tormented. I am a Christian and do not believe that suicide is the answer to any problem but believe me the torment is so great I too have had thoughts of suicide ( in the first months). The world needs to know that this is real. If you think that fibres coming out of our skin sounds bizarre please remember its just as bizarre to us! We need to stop scientists from interfering with nature ( nano technology) when I read of scientists putting spider genes into silkworms etc I wonder what other obscene outrageous experiments are going on in secret. This is most definitely some sort of parasite, perhaps a genetically altered one. This is far from delusional. Only the Lord my God can help me and heal me.
7 - Deborah
Go to YouTube and look at videos put on there by sufferers of morgellons. If you can believe that worms coming out of your body are a figment of ones imagination and are psychosomatic then let's get rid of all doctors and close every hospital. Sufferers of morgellons are making an absolute mockery of the medical profession on YouTube. Delusional parasitoses does not produce any strange objects, worms and dead flies from a persons skin. In my search for information, diagnosis and treatment of morgellons has lead me to a problem I didn't even know existed. I was totally ignorant that mites could infest humans, I didnt know that scabies was a mite. I have read many stories of people who have been infested by canine mites and bird mites, all verified by entomologists. Yet doctors will tell you it's not possible, all because their text books are outdated. Many doctors need to learn to think outside the box. Dermotologists are now saying they are seeing up to 3 people a month who are suffering from delusional parasitoses, whereas in the past they only saw 2 to 3 in year. morgellons is on the rise and unless something is done we are going to have more people infested with this ( worm caused by microscopic flies laying their eggs)
8 - hush puppy
is there any cure for morgellons my doctor wants me to go on loxabine he said it would cure me, this drug is used for mood disorder...can anyone help me he tried to tell me it would change my body chemistry..any answers to this
9 - Lm
I am ready to kill myself. I probably won't, but i haven't stopped crying for days. I know I should go to the hospital, but after 4 trips to urgent care and 1 visit to the ER, I give up. Nobody believes me. My primary doctor sucks. It started with a rash. Ended with sores on my face and me in the ER thinking worms were coming out of them. They sent in a shrink and called my emergency contact ..... All thought I was on drugs (I'm a 43 yo mother). 6 mos. later I am now shaving my face every other day to remove fuzz. I never had to wear makeup, now check every hour to make sure my sores are covered (4 months, never healed - dr diagnosed allergic reaction, hives, eczema, then sent to a dermatologist who said "stop picking and come back in a week!!" I wasn't picking them!!!!). I feel absolutely psychotic. I left my bf, quit my job. Am sleeping in my car. Thank god my kids live w/ their dad. I haven't returned their calls in days bcs the last couple of times they have asked why I sound so sad. I don't know? I'm homeless? Crazy? There's something wrong with me and I keep burning my face w/ vinegar and glycolic acid trying to kill it so I can't go out in public. I live in NYC. I'm white, attractive (or was). I would never survive in a homeless shelter. I know I'm not making sense, but I really don't know what to do anymore. I wake up at night wanting to rip my face off. I'm very computer literate, ive read morgellans is not a real disease, so am i crazy????? I had a lesion on my face cultured and it was positive for strenotrophomonos maltophilia. I read that most people w/ morgellans have that bacteria. I was sent to an infection control specialist and he told me he only seen 2 other patients who tested positive for that so he thinks I did not have it. It was a false positive (I had to wait 2 months to see him and already burned my face w/ apple cidar vinegar so had scarring, no lesions or fibers). I'm at my wits end!!!!!