Posted on 05/20/2004 11:44:37 AM PDT by chance33_98
Mystery Illness/Parasite Said To Be Afflicting Idahoans Getting Attention
By Jon Hanian
Boise, ID - "Not only do they say I can't help you but they say and you are crazy too." There are people all over the country telling the same amazing story about parasites. "I was seeing too many strange things, actually seeing little creatures surface on my skin. I don't think we are all having this mass delusion, you know." Those comments came from people in northern California. But there are alarmingly similar stories coming from people in Idaho who claim to be afflicted by parasites that they say create stinging and crawling sensations under their skin. But most medical doctors do not believe those claims. "They say I have a problem but it is a mental problem. It is crazy, it is enough to make you mental."
Around the country, 729 people -- and just under a dozen in Idaho -- believe they are infected with a mystery illness many are calling a parasite while some clinical researchers believe it is linked to bacteria. "Actually there are ten patients in Idaho and I know three of them fairly well. I have spoken with them on the phone and I believe all ten of them. Because what they report to me is very consistent with what we have seen,” says Mary Leitao, a Pittsburgh-based medical researcher.
Leitao is a biologist by training and an investigator of this unknown medical condition by necessity. She began clinically studying it when her three-year-old son showed her an unknown organism coming out his lip and on his heels. When she first spoke with dozens of other people who claimed to suffer from the same type of unusual skin lesions, they said, "The physicians will not acknowledge this. They are telling us we are all delusional and we have what is known as delusional parasitosis."
So Leitao began doing her own research, started a website and a foundation called the Morgellons Research Foundation based on comparing what was she saw coming out her child and the name of an obscure 400 year old medical manuscript with drawings of an ancient parasite that looked the same. "The microscopic drawings of Morgellons were done in the 1600's. Since this was the only thing that was even similar to what we were seeing under the microscope, we decided to base our name on that."
Leitao admits the medical community is slow to recognize the problem and believes that most of her evidence is anecdotal. In other words, medical officials are concerned that the "evidence" thus far amounts to clinical experiences based on individual cases, rather than an organized investigation with appropriate scientifically approved controls. Adding to her problem, there are no "peer-reviewed" medical studies to document the problem. Local health officials in Idaho contacted by Idaho 2 News declined to be interviewed for this story citing similar concerns.
But a former NASA physician and epidemiologist based in Houston believes there is an infectious bacteria at the heart of this problem. Dr. William Harvey is the current chairman of the NASA Education Advisory Committee. He has documented more than 565 of these (Borreliosis) cases in Texas and says 94% of (those with Morgellons’ skin lesions) have tested positive for the bacteria associated with Lyme disease, or Borreliosis. "I think we are a looking at a major problem that has been unrecognized in humanity right now."
Harvey co-authored a published medical study concluding the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, associated with Lyme disease, could be at the heart of a widely unknown misdiagnosed infection. In 2003 Harvey published his research in the medical journal Medical Hypotheses. His article 'Lyme Disease': Ancient Engine of an Unrecognized Borreliosis Pandemic, suggests that the bacteria associated with Lyme disease is much more widely distributed. "The yet-unrecognized form appears to have a broader clinical presentation, wider geographic distribution, and vastly greater prevalence," Harvey wrote in his report. He says research suggests it attacks the immune system in a specific way rendering it susceptible to these unusual organisms. "The lab tests that we do are predictably showing certain immune damage and it is consistent from patient to patient to patient to patient."
Harvey believes the bacteria is the bigger problem. But the so-called parasites, which have yet to be clinically proven in a controlled laboratory setting, do have highly unusual characteristics as seen through a scanning electron microscope. Leitao says they also defy being easily identified. "What we see are branching structures very fungus like but so large, these fibers, these hyphae are so large that they can not be any of the known fungi." Harvey says some of the "filaments" have been confirmed as the infectious yeast Candida tropicalis.
Conventional wisdom says ticks spread the bacteria associated with Lyme disease. But Dr. Harvey's research suggests that bacteria maybe spread through casual and congenital human contact. Whatever it is, people like Rebecca Hewitt of Nampa who believes she has it, are desperate for a cure. "I honestly believe there are a lot more people out there with it that have given up." The ones who have not given up like Daryl Crockett admit it is a day to day struggle. "I really am trying to tough this out."
Crockett has tried to cure himself with all kinds of ointments, salves, and over the counter drug store items so far to no avail. Leitao says expensive antibiotics have shown some positive results. "Recently people have begun to be treated extremely aggressively with very strong I.V. antibiotics and that seems to be pulling people out of this disease the fastest." The aggressive antibiotic treatment Dr. Harvey has been using with Morgellons patients is the antibiotic Rocephin administered through a central line. In the meantime the research continues, as does the suffering of people who say they are desperate for help.
sorry, I couldn't resist...
Very good.
Coming from a wit like you, I consider that quite a compliment. Thanks!
Wonder how many cases of botfly parasitism have been documented in humans.
Texas, California and Idaho. What is the common denominator?
Large populations of illegal aliens.
thought you might be interested.
Well, why not. We already have spreading resistant TB, gonorrhea, etc. Just add more fuel to the fire, and give the illegals free health care to boot.
Har! Thanks back!
And for the TB we can without a doubt thank our worthless border policy.
Not only are the illegal aliens infecting our culture they're infecting our bodies as well with their unwelcome friends.
sw
When doctors in Idaho don't know what is a condition is, they claim it doesn't exist.
You read an article like this and it only raises questions. They claim to have examined these things with an electron microscope, and people are receiving treatment, yet there is a dispute as to whether it exists or is the result of a delusion. Also, there isn't a lot of detail on the symptoms. How big are these lesions? How often do they appear? How does this "stuff" come out of them? Do they itch, hurt? Just what is the somewhat gross picture? looks like a hair follicle or fiber of some kind.
"She began clinically studying it when her three-year-old son showed her an unknown organism coming out his lip and on his heels."
She is studying this so where is the photo she must have taken ? Or her website address ?
I think it would be good to try Ivermectin as a remedy. That is used in horses, dogs, etc as a broad spectrum wormer.
DO NOT try to get attention in Idaho.
Exactly what kind of attention (wink, nudge) were these Idahoans getting which spread the illness?
Another one being added to the "Stupid Headlines" list.
There are a couple of pictures there. One is of the kid's lip.
I've been accidentally immunized for parasites a few times by accident with Ivermectin and Pro-Zap. The Pro-Zap has no local anesthetic and is painful(beyond getting stabbed accidentally). I have had no ill effects from it. 2ml/110lb. is the animal dosage, subcutanious. My doses were intramuscular.
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