Morgellons syndrome: symptoms, treatment and associated theories

In the year 2001, Mary Leitao, a biologist and mother of a 7-year-old boy. She discovered that her son had unusual skin sores in which strange fibers of unknown origin could be seen. After a tireless search for diagnoses and unresolved answers, she herself coined this condition as Morgellons syndrome.

Morgellons syndrome is a mysterious and highly controversial disease, for which answers endorsed by the entire scientific community have not yet been found today, and around which all kinds of scientific and conspiracy theories circulate.

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What is Morgellons Syndrome?

Morgellons syndrome or disease is a rare condition, whose name was coined relatively recently, in which the affected person suffers from a series of delusions in which it is believed to be contaminated by infectious pathogens. These elements can be insects, parasites or a series of strange fibers that they claim to have under their skin.

These delusions may be reinforced by the fact that, in certain cases, they have indeed been observed.

a series of foreign fibers present in skin lesions that the person himself causes.

The self harm are common in Morgellons patients, who manifest a constant obsession with scratching or, even, nibbling the skin with the intention of relieving the sensations of tickling or itching that they refer to feel.

Morgellons syndrome has turned out to be a disease surrounded by controversies and discussions within the medical and scientific community. The reason is that part of this community distinguishes it as a new disease with its own symptoms, while others consider it a new type of manifestation of an already known disorder, the dermatozoic parasitic delusion.

The mystery and controversy surrounding Morgellons syndrome is such that conspiracy theories have been established around it. him, which describe it as a disease caused by the same governments or companies through the use of nanotechnology. Which, according to them, would explain the appearance of the fibers under the skin and the constant tingling.

Symptoms and diagnosis

Since, for the moment, Morgellons syndrome is not accepted as a delimited disease, there is no record of its symptoms, nor Neither have guidelines been developed to be able to make a differential diagnosis. accepted from this

According to the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF), in the list of symptoms you can find:

• Constant tingling, itching or itching sensation on the skin that is irritating to the person.
• Skin rashes and wounds that do not heal correctly.
• Appearance of a kind of fibers or threads, of unknown cause, in the skin that can also appear under it or in skin lesions.
• Exhausted.
• Cognitive deficits such as lack of concentration or memory loss.

Likewise, symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome, symptoms of depression or obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), in a large number of patients affected by this strange disorder.

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Possible causes of the syndrome

Given the great disagreement and the little research that exists around Morgellons Syndrome, a series of hypotheses and theories about its origin have been established. Some of them are based on possible skin diseases, while others are based on the effect that certain bacteria or toxins have on people.

1. Dermatozoic parasitic delirium and other neurological disorders

As previously mentioned, a part of the scientific community, including dermatologists and psychiatrists, consider Morgellons syndrome, a new version of the well-known dermatozoic parasitic delusion, also known as delusion of infestation. According to psychiatric diagnostic manuals, these disorders they are included within the category “delusional disorders without specification”.

Likewise, the scientific community affirms that people who suffer from Morgellons syndrome are characterized by manifesting a symptomatology very similar to that of dermatozoic parasitic delirium, hence the majority of them are diagnosed as such.

This parasitic delusion stands out for instilling, in the people who suffer from it, the delusional belief that they are infested by all kinds of bacteria or parasitic agents, which cause them that tingling and itching sensation under the skin.

Patients suffering from this disorder may develop self-harm or self-mutilation behaviors, that they carry out with the purpose of “ripping off” or eliminating these parasites from their body. Due to this obsession, patients delve more and more into their wounds, thus making it impossible for them to heal.

In certain cases of parasitic delirium, the cause of the delirium is found in certain allergies, skin carcinomas, herpes zoster, or even in some women in the menopausal stage. In which the skin sensations are real, but the attribution that the subjects give them is irrational.

2. skin conditions

Other hypotheses by which an attempt is made to find the cause of Morgellons points to the fact that the basis of this alteration is found in certain skin disorders such as allergic dermatitis, contact dermatitis or scabies, also known as scabies.

As in the previous point, the person feels a real itch on the skin, but maintains the delusional belief that it is not a skin disease but rather infected by parasites.

3. bacterial hypothesis

In a study published in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology, it was stated that Morgellons disease could be linked to an undefined infectious process. They also testified that the same bacteria that cause Lyme disease had been found in many of the patients affected by Morgellons syndrome.

The following year, the same researchers stated that the fibers found in the lesions The skin fibers of the patients contained cellulose, while a more detailed analysis of these fibers revealed the appearance of a bacterium known as Agrobacterium. This pathogenic agent is typical of the plant world, and is known to originate a series of cellulose fibers in the plants it infects. If this theory is true, Morgellons syndrome would be the first case in which a bacterium from the plant world affects humans.

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Treatment

In most cases, Morgellons syndrome shares the same treatment as parasitic delirium, since many professionals consider it as such.

After a medical examination to rule out organic causes, a series of typical antipsychotics is administered, as the olanzapine and the risperidone.

Since many of the patients reject the diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, they oppose psychiatric treatment. Therefore, based on the theories of infectious agents and bacteria, many patients are treated with antibiotic or antiparasitic medication; which would act in patients through placebo effect.