[Cicero]

Interesting comment for Francophobes at a blog I found:

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Morgellons Disease

This condition exhibits as pustules and the presence of strange fibers within the lesion. The bacterium causing this condition has been found. It is named (try to take a deep breath and get someone else to pronounce it) Stenotrophomonasmaltophilia.

The crawling skin feeling is caused by multiple flagella on the bacterium and the fibers are actually produced by the bacterium. Bottled water has been blamed for the largest element of infection and the biggest offender is bottled water from France. One study observed that one-third of the bottled waters from France contain this organism.

The treatment is intensive and requires high dosages of sulfur drugs and antibiotics, although the bacteria appear to be resistant to many antibiotics.

In conclusion, whilst it may not be the best thing in the world, drink water from your tap and stop spending money on sucking up germs for your trouble. Many bottled waters here in the States are also affected.

One nice thing about this mess, is the fact that the bacterium is killed by boiling. Further, if you like bubbles as I do, carbonated water is immune to the bugs. This may be due to the higher base figure and/or the processing of carbonated water.

Search MORGELLONS DISEASE for more information on this unusual and recent phenomena.

Jim Mortellaro

Link to these comments is found here:

http://blogspot.mg.co.za/?q=node/383

[visualops]

Well, he hasn't even got the name right, or about anything else for that matter.
Stenotrophomonas (Pseudomonas) maltophilia is ubiquitous, and hardly the cause of the described condition.

Background: Stenotrophomonas (Pseudomonas) maltophilia is an aerobic gram-negative bacillus that is an infrequent pathogen in humans and is found in a variety of aquatic environments. S maltophilia is an organism of low virulence and is a frequent colonizer of fluids used in the hospital setting, ie, irrigation solutions and intravenous (IV) fluids, and of patient secretions, ie, respiratory secretions, urine, or wound exudates. S maltophilia usually must bypass normal host defenses to cause human infection. For example, if fluid in an irrigation solution becomes colonized with this organism, irrigating an open wound can cause colonization or infection of the wound. S maltophilia usually is not capable of causing disease in healthy hosts without the assistance of invasive medical devices that bypass normal host defenses.

Pathophysiology: S maltophilia has few pathogenic mechanisms and, for this reason, predominantly results in colonization rather than infection. If infection does occur, invasive medical devices usually are the vehicles by which the organism bypasses normal host defenses. Otherwise, the pathophysiology of this nonfermentative aerobic gram-negative bacillus is not different from other nonfermentative aerobic organisms.