by David St. Albans

Created on: March 20, 2009   Last Updated: March 30, 2009

We know that all humans are infected by parasites of various types; tiny mites which live in our eyelashes, or the dust mites in our mattresses and pillows which live off the flakes of our skin. And inside us are numerous bacteria, like viruses, that both take opportunistic advantage of a free ride, free room and board, a place to breed and meals for life. People in the Third World and developing countries still regularly suffer with ringworm, lice and tapeworms, liver flukes, Malarial worms and other not so nice parasitic beasties. But in our nice, sterile American World we don't always know what is living in us right now and we often don't want to know! This unfortunately includes medical doctors and scientists.

Diseases like AIDS, Ebola, and West Nile Virus have come to this country from far foreign lands and have the potential to wreak havoc. Yet doctors and scientists often turn a blind eye to the obvious when it comes to new diseases, for fear of shaking up the status quo in their own community or causing a "panic" in what they consider to be the milling herds of humanity who contentedly chew the cud of modern complacency in Middle Class America.

In recent years a new disease has been observed that seems to bring out the worst fears we have of parasitic life forms. It is called "Morgellon's Disease"; Named for a group of people, The Morgellons of Languedoc, France, who were described in 1690 by journalist Sir Thomas Browne, as having "harsh hairs sprouting from their backs".

When the disease was first noted in America some five or so years ago it seemed to be one of those odd-ball stories that come and go in this world. Someone had a lesion with a hair-like follicle growing out of it. No one could determine what the follicle was. It couldn't be pulled out without great pain. Yet it was not a hair. Those who developed these lesions felt that bugs or insects were crawling under their skin. Of course the diagnoses that were initially made were those of "Delusional Parasites"; Meaning that the bugs were all in the patient's head, like those who suffer from Alcohol toxification or the DTs or who are coming off of heroin or cocaine. This caused patients to feel they were being patronized and even condemned as insane.

Oddly, those who have come down with the disease, and there are now 1,100 cases nationwide, have two things in common; One is that they were already usually diagnosed and been treated for psychiatric troubles, A.D.D., A.D.H.D., Obsessive-Compulsive

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