KEYS:
* Morgellons disease (MD) is a complex skin disorder characterized by ulcerating lesions that have protruding or embedded filaments.
* Many clinicians refer to this condition as delusional parasitosis or delusional infestation and consider the filaments to be introduced as textile fibers. In contrast, recent studies indicate that MD is a true somatic illness associated with tick borne infection.
* The filaments are keratin and collagen in composition and that they result from proliferation and activation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in the skin. Previously, spirochetes have been detected in the dermatological specimens from four MD patients, thus providing evidence of an infectious process.
Methods & results:
- Based on culture,
- histology,
- immunohistochemistry,
- electron microscopy
- and molecular testing,
We present corroborating evidence of spirochaetal infection in a larger group of 25 MD patients.
[Some patients were negative on antibody testing, yet], all patients in our study group demonstrated histological evidence of epithelial spirochetal infection.
Spirochetes identified as Borrelia strains by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or in-situ DNA hybridization were detected in 24/25 of our study patients.
Skin cultures containing Borrelia spirochetes were obtained from four patients, thus demonstrating that the organisms present in dermatological specimens were [alive] viable.
Spirochetes identified by PCR as Borrelia burgdorferi were cultured from blood in seven patients
[Lyme was detected]… from vaginal secretions in three patients, demonstrating systemic infection.
Conclusions:
Our study using multiple detection methods confirms that MD is a true[medical] somatic illness associated with Borrelia spirochetes that cause Lyme disease. Further studies are needed to determine the optimal treatment for this spirochete-associated dermopathy.
Middelveen MJ, Bandoski C, Burke J, Sapi E, Filush KR, Wang Y, Franco A, Mayne PJ, Stricker RB. Exploring the association between Morgellons disease and Lyme disease: identification of Borrelia burgdorferi in Morgellons disease patients. BMC Dermatol. 2015 Feb 12;15(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s12895-015-0023-0. PMID: 25879673; PMCID: PMC4328066.