Doctors puzzled over bizarre infection surfacing in South Texas

KENS 5 Eyewitness News ^ | 05/12/2006 | Deborah Knapp

[DrewsDad]

"These people will have like beads of sweat but it's black, black and tarry," said Ginger Savely, a nurse practioner in Austin who treats a majority of these patients.

"Sometimes little black specks that come out of the lesions and sometimes little fibers," said Stephanie Bailey, Morgellons patient.

Hey, wasn't this an X-files episode?

[null and void]

THREAT OF TB (TUBERCULOSIS) AT TYSON PLANT (SHELBYVILLE, TN) DENIED

Drug-resistant TB worries officials [Mexico, S. Texas]

An illegal alien has a brush with death--and gets up to work again A social worker tracked down the friends and relatives who came to the U.S. with him. (They all tested positive for TB and were all working in local restaurants.)

[IronJack]

It could be "Delusional Parasitosis" spread by a first-world internet. The "whiff of hysteria" with all links pointing to "Eye Five News" type sites leads me to credit the latter.

An excellent diagnosis, Dr. Paine.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Images of Morgellons:

click

[freebird5850]

Fibers from mars I tell ya, see my previous post.

[verity]

And all this time I thought they were CON[spiracy] TRAILS.

[Revolting cat!]

[null and void]

The optical microscopy pictures look like textile fibers. They don't look significantly different from the stuff I've tracked down and chased from any number of cleanrooms.

As to the the SEM images, not enough experience in that area to do more than speculate. I would expect synthetic fibers to have a uniform cross section, these don't. I see bulges and interrupted grooves. I don't see the scales or microfeatures I'd expect in fur or hair. Possibly vegetable origin?

[Dog Gone]

And in your ideal world there are no controls to isolate any sneezing, snot dripping, open sore oozing pus bags from working in food prep?

Of course not. You can't possibly derive that from my posts here. Now you're being asinine.

[null and void]

Ah! Now at least we are on the same level...

[Dog Gone]

In your dreams

[null and void]

Nightmares, more like.

[LibertyRocks]

This is from the Morgellons.org website you linked. It is the biography posting of one of the medical researchers. In his biography he speaks to the contagiousness of the disease and the fact that it seems to have global roots...

“I’m a physician with varied backgrounds… Bachelor’s Degree in Astronautical Engineering from the USAF Academy, Masters Degrees in Public Health and Electrical Engineering, an MD from Case Western Reserve University.

I’m Board Certified in Aerospace Medicine and Board Eligible in Emergency Medicine…a 23-year career in the US Air Force, much of which was in space science, space medicine and space medicine research at the School of Aerospace medicine, Brooks AFB….Medical Director for the Space Station Program for Lockheed Corporation, then for Wyle Life Sciences at Johnson Space center. …solving medical problems in spaceflight where no knowledge or texts existed before has been my career.

The Morgellon’s phenomenon is real. It is also clearly devastating, life-shortening, and infectious. I have observed the herald lesions microscopically with their central fibers in dozens of patients. Virtually all have lost both income and medical insurance, and are now a significant drain on the medical system, the federal budget and their immediate social system.

…international link up with physicians in Europe and most other English speaking countries has resulted in a crescendo in awareness of the illness, and collection of large amounts of publishable data. Tragically, the roots of the illness now appear to be global….”

- William T. Harvey, MD, MS, MPH San Antonio, Texas

[Ptaz]

South Florida has a big problem with illegal immigration?

Ever hear of Cuba? How about noticing that the states with large populations have the most cases? Could that be a factor, you think?

Quite possibly. But they didn't mention others in the article now did they? They have cases of this in the Netherlands and Australia. Probably illegal aliens from Mexico, I guess.

I won't resort to insults here, but I wouldn't know. But this is the very reason people don't express their opinions here because there is a segment here that isn't open to any opinions or speculation outside their own small way of thinking. But I wouldn't know....this mentioned too prominently in the article.

[LibertyRocks]

Sorry, I confused contagious with infectious when reading the above bio. I have not found where they state it is contagious as someone mentioned.

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

lone star annie, How severe of a case did your husband come down with?

Chicken Pox scares me; I can't imagine having it twice!

After my now-13 year old son came down with it at 14 months old, my doctor gave me a VZV titer which showed that I had no detectable antibody to the chicken pox virus, the absence of which serves as evidence of susceptibility to varicella. I can only hope I don't catch it one of these days.

[spunkets]

" The Morgellon’s phenomenon is real."

No it's not, it's some kind of hoax. The composition and structural morphology of the fibers is conspicuously absent. It doesn't take much to obtain that info and that info is fundamentally important. The fibers themselves appear to be simply stuck externally to the lesions. Also, it's remarkable that pics of unidsturbed lesions are available. Given the desription of the itchy crawly nature of the disease, I would expect severe excoriations.

Dr Harvey is a 6ft invisible bunny.

[Dog Gone]

I won't resort to insults here, but I wouldn't know. But this is the very reason people don't express their opinions here because there is a segment here that isn't open to any opinions or speculation outside their own small way of thinking.

Yet you just did.

[Dog Gone]

Ever hear of Cuba?

I've heard of it. How many illegal immigrants come to South Florida from there every year? Surely you have some numbers.

[null and void]

That would be zero.

By definition, any Cuban who gets 'dry feet' is here legally.