This photo provided by Centers for Disease Control shows a case-patient with skin lesions, left, and a close-up of one of the lesions with mysterious blue fibers sprouting from the skin, published as part of a CDC study on Morgellons. Results of the CDC study released Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 conclude that Morgellons exists only in the patients' minds. Sufferers of the mystery illness describe a variety of symptoms, including fatigue, erupting sores, crawling sensations on their skin and perhaps worst of all mysterious red, blue or black fibers that sprout from their skin. (AP Photo/CDC)
Mogellons disease only exists in sufferers’ minds, according to a new study by the Center of Disease Control.
People with the disease often complain of crawling sensations on their skin, oozing sores and red, blue or black fibers that grow out of their skin. It was named in 2002 from a 1674 medical paper describing similar symptoms.
The number of people with these symptoms was so high that in 2008, federal health officials began a nearly $600,000 study into the disease. The results, released Wednesday, concluded that Morgellons is a psychological condition.
“We found no infections cause,” Center for Disease Control and Prevention official Mark Eberhard said.
The study looked at more than 3 million people in Northern California that were insured under Kaiser. The 15-man team found that 115 patients had the symptoms of Morgellons. At least 100 agreed to answer survey questions and roughly 40 agreed to undergo physical and psychological evaluations.
Researchers found no fungus or bacteria that could cause the symptoms, and the fibers were mainly cotton and nylon. They concluded that skin lesions were caused by the patient scratching their skin.
The majority of sufferers are middle-aged white women but there are no common environmental factors and they did not live in nearby areas.
Many doctors believe that the condition is a form of delusional parasitosis, which is a psychological disorder where people believe they’re infected with parasites. However, the participants showed no indication of having a delusional disorder.
The sufferers did not have an unusual history of psychiatric problems and did well on the psychological exams. The study did find that they were more depressed than the general public and more obsessed about physical illness.
This corresponds to a Mayo Clinic study published last May that concluded that the 108 Morgellons patients they studied were not suffering from any physical ailment, and that the sores were caused by their own scratching and picking at their skin.
With Associated Press
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