Morgellons

Morgellons (also called Morgellons disease or Morgellons syndrome) is a name that was given in 2002 by stay-at-home-mom Mary Leitao to a proposed condition characterized by a range of cutaneous (skin) symptoms including crawling, biting, and stinging sensations (formication); finding fibers on or under the skin; and persistent skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). Doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, regard Morgellons as delusiona... More

Morgellons (also called Morgellons disease or Morgellons syndrome) is a name that was given in 2002 by stay-at-home-mom Mary Leitao to a proposed condition characterized by a range of cutaneous (skin) symptoms including crawling, biting, and stinging sensations (formication); finding fibers on or under the skin; and persistent skin lesions (e.g., rashes or sores). Doctors, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, regard Morgellons as delusional infestation (also called delusional parasitosis), the belief that there is a pathogenic infestation that remains despite contrary medical evidence. Despite the lack of evidence that Morgellons is a novel or distinct condition and the absence of any agreed set of diagnostic symptoms, the Morgellons Research Foundation and self-diagnosed Morgellons patients successfully lobbied members of Congress and the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the proposed condition. The CDC researchers issued the...

Less