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Figure 1. Ettmuller's drawings of Morgellons fibers, 1682. Reproduced with permission of the Morgellons Research Foundation. For a historical perspective see [2].
(Figure omitted. See article PDF.)
Figure 2. Clinical appearance of Morgellons skin lesions on the face. Used with permission of the patient.
(Figure omitted. See article PDF.)
Figure 3. Clinical appearance of Morgellons skin lesions. (A & B) Gross appearance of leg lesions. (C) Appearance of subcutaneous fibers under ×60 digital microscope. Used with permission from Charles Holman.
(Figure omitted. See article PDF.)
Figure 4. Autofluorescence of fibers from Morgellons skin lesion. Courtesy of the Morgellons Research Foundation, all rights reserved, used with permission. For more details see [1].
(Figure omitted. See article PDF.)
Morgellons disease is a mysterious illness characterized by nonhealing skin lesions associated with crawling or stinging sensations under the skin and the presence of fiber-like strands and granule-like objects protruding from the lesions [1]. The disease was first described in French children in 1674 by a British physician, Sir Thomas Browne, as follows [2]:
"Hairs which have most amused me have not been in the face or head, but on the back, and not in men but children, as I long ago observed in that endemial distemper of little children in Languedock, called the Morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh hairs on their backs, which takes off the unquiet symptoms of the disease, and delivers them from coughs and convulsion."
In 1682, Dr Michel Ettmuller's microscopic drawings of objects associated with what was then believed to be a worm infestation of children (Figure 1) appear similar to microscopic views of fibers from present-day sufferers of this disease [2].
Morgellons disease was rediscovered in 2001 by a Pennsylvania housewife, Mary Leitao, who noted skin lesions with protruding fibers in her 2-year-old son. Unable to find medical help for his condition, she founded the Morgellons Research Foundation [101], which began accepting registrations from people with symptoms of this unrecognized disease in 2002. The original focus of the foundation was on skin symptoms, but it soon became evident that other symptoms within this patient group, such as disabling fatigue, life-altering cognitive decline, musculoskeletal pain and mood disorders were of much greater concern.
Morgellons disease was initially considered to be...