Follow-up report is now available:
Execerpt: 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.
LINK"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."
Any indication it responds to topical antifungal meds?
"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."
Any indication it responds to topical antifungal meds?