Frightening Skin Disease Invades L.A.

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http://cbs2.com/health/local_story_139151348.html

 

May 20, 2006 12:07 am US/Pacific

 

Frightening Skin Disease Invades L.A.

Moregellons Makes Your Skin Crawl With Threadlike Strings Coming Out

Of Sores

 

(CBS) LOS ANGELES It's a mystery disease straight out of the

" X-Files. " But those who suffer from it will tell you it's painfully real.

 

 

Imagine sweating beads of a black, tar-like substance; pulling colored

threadlike strings from sores all over your body; or feeling like your

skin is crawling with bugs. Worst of all, not only are doctors unsure

of what it is, many tell patients they're making it all up.

 

Sufferer Annette Riaubia said, " They start out like little pimples or

something and you scratch them, and they bust open and they spring

forth these weird fibers like a strand of a piece of cotton. "

 

" I saw white fiber on my face, " said one woman who only wanted to be

identified as Marcella. " I saw black specks coming out of what looked

like pimples, really. "

 

It sounds like these people are talking about something out of a

science fiction movie, but they're not. They're describing the painful

symptoms associated with a mysterious skin disease called Morgellons.

 

Most sufferers have lesions on their skin that ooze multi-colored fibers.

 

" Blue, red, yellow, pink, white coming out of the skin, not landing on

it, " Riaubia said.

 

Black pepper-like particles are also often found on the skin. And then

there's the bugs.

 

" The most disturbing symptom is just the crawling feeling on your skin

like you got bugs crawling all over you, " said Riaubia.

 

Marcella said, " My son felt it first: `Mommy I have bugs on my skin.'

I thought he must be having a vivid dream. Then I started having the

symptoms. "

 

Marcella says that in addition to the bugs, there's severe pain. " Yes,

tremendous amount of joint pain particularly the large joints. Like

the hips and the knees. "

 

These are just a few of the more than 3,500 Americans believed to be

suffering from the illness.

 

Morgellons sufferer William Zielenbach said, " My symptoms started out

as small lesions that looked like birth marks, exactly like birthmarks. "

 

Zielenbach believes he's had the disease for the past two years. Right

now he has lesion covering his arms and legs. He lives with his

girlfriend, Katherine Walker, in a Hollywood apartment building. She

recently came down with it and dropped about 40 pounds in a matter of

months. They're now shells of their former selves.

 

" I was getting little lesions on my ears -- again, my case isn't as

bad except for the chronic fatigue, which is how a lot of people say

it starts for them, " Walker said.

 

Another troubling symptom: hair loss.

 

Riaubia, who has to wear a wig, said that is her biggest symptom. She

often get lesions on her scalp. " They don't actually heal. They just

end up leaving strange looking scars. "

 

On top of having to live with this devastating disease these people

have had to deal with a lack of support from the medical community.

Some have been diagnosed with scabies -- a contagious skin disease

caused by a mite. Or they're told they're delusional and that their

ailments are from self-mutilation.

 

Marcella said, " went to the dermatologist first and he basically

said that I was delusional. "

" I've had everything from nerves to drug addiction to delusional

parasitosis is the biggest common diagnosis, " Riaubia said.

The disease does seem to cause a brain fog or lack of clarity.

However, Morgellons sufferer Jane Waldoch wanted to prove to doctors

that it wasn't all in her mind so she saved the fibers that were

growing out of her body.

" This has absolutely brought me to my knees, " she said.

Some doctors even admit to a lack of acknowledgement of the illness.

" There are a lot of us who feel like if it doesn't exist in my medical

book then it doesn't' exist anywhere, " said Dr. Hardesh Garg.

" Believe me if I just randomly saw one of these patients in my office,

I would think they were crazy, too, " Nurse Practitioner Ginger Savely

said. She treats Morgellons patients from all over the country at her

San Francisco Medical Center. " But after you've heard the story of

over 100 patients and they're all down to the most minute detail

saying the exact same thing, which becomes quite impressive. "

As you can imagine, living with such an illness can cause emotional

distress. Lisa Wilson's son, Trevor, developed the disease just over a

year ago. At times she'd try to help him alleviate the pain.

" It looked like a piece of spaghetti. It was about 1/8 to 1/4-inch

long sticking out of his chest when has was having a very bad attack

and I tried to pull it as hard as I could out and I could not pull it

out. "

Trevor tried several medications: antibiotics, antiparasitics and pain

killers. But when things became too much to bear, he took his own life.

" I knew he was going to kill himself and there was nothing I could do

to stop him, " Wilson said.

Other Morgellons patients have felt this same type of deep depression.

The children have their own struggles.

" I used to have the whole softball team come and sleep over and no one

wants to come over anymore, " one teen said.

Researchers at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences

have been testing scabs and fibers from patients.

Researcher Dr. Randy Wymore said, " We don't know what causes it. We

don't know if it's an environmental factor, if there are bacteria

involved, if there are parasites, or worms or viruses. "

In the meantime sufferers are praying someone can unlock this medical

mystery and release them from this living hell.

" It's just one big Twilight Zone episode that hopefully we'll get an

end to here soon, " one sufferer said.

Nurse practitioner Savely says she's found some success by giving her

patients a combination of anti-fungals, antibiotics and antiparasitics.

Mary Beth McDade

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. .)