by David St. Albans

Created on: June 03, 2009

Morgellon's Disease or Morgellon's Syndrome (pronounced More-jellons) had been first noted in the Fortean Times in England and The Gate Magazine in America at the turn of our present century. Cases from the Western United States were under investigation by doctors in 2001, though the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) did not even recognize it as a disease until 2007 when they described it as "Unexplained Dermopathy". The disease seems to have been born right here in the United States and is now spreading world wide. There is no instance of it being noted in any of the nations bordering ours and being brought in. The most cases have appeared in Florida, Arizona, Texas and California. One of the first cases occurred in Pennsylvania and involved a two year old child who was thought to have contracted typical scabies. Though some contend it is a delusional psychiatric disease, it might be noted here that two year olds are rarely "delusional."

At first it seemed like just one of those weird news items that are used as filler in many newspapers. People were complaining of having "bugs under their skin" which would cause them to itch and scratch almost to the point of mental exhaustion and nervous breakdown. Then some people began to report tiny "hairs" sprouting from lesions where the "infestation of bugs" seemed to be particularly bad. Doctors reportedly gave prescriptions to their patients for Prozac, Valium, Thorazine or other anti-depressants and anti-psychotics. This was because the doctors were sure their patients were suffering from various forms of mental illness. They believed the patients feeling of bugs under the skin were similar to what happens to people who have the Delirium Tremens (D.T.s) or who are schizophrenic. The medical term for the condition is: Delusional Parasitis.

In response to the doctors' claims of delusions, patients began to bring in samples of hairs, spore like matter and what seemed to be fuzzy nylon rug thread balls into doctor's offices to be analyzed. They would swear the things had either popped out of their skin or that they had, with some difficulty, surgically removed the "fibers" themselves! Doctors of course remained skeptical, assuming the patients were now bringing in samples of their own cut hair or rug threads to "prove" to themselves they had a real disease.

Some doctors however began to question their own pet theories about mental illness when they examined

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