A little history of earlier reports as far back as 1994, regarding our disease. Buffalo Gnats (hump backed critters) implicated.
Notice the reference to the specimens presented in a fruit jar that contained among other things, LINT.
members4.boardhost.com/Kritters/msg/2057.htmlThis is a link to KJRH-Channel 2, Tulsa, Oklahoma, an NBC affiliate. In the fall of 1994 they aired the skin parasite story for three days, morning, noon and night. Most of the footage released centered around reports from Ft. Gibson, Tahlequah and Muskogee. Persons suffering were interviewed, told their story, were scorned by family, friends and the medical profession. One sufferer drove to Muskogee and met with a few of them, and spoke with at length on several occasions, as did Lois, the administrator at NUSPA. Within a short time one family in particular moved out of their home for six months. They burned all their clothing and upholstered furniture as well as their mattresses. When they drained the lines to their washing machine they caught the water in a jar and took it to the Muskogee County Health Department for analysis as they could see the water contained something unusual. They described it as small, round, clear to opaque and they believed the water may have been the source of their problem. The lab person who was supposed to test the water gave them nothing in writing, and told them the water was ok. It was then flushed away.
KJRH still has a copy or copies of that tape in their archives.
Alan Kocan, Oklahoma State University entomologist reported to the media locally that specimens people brought him were nothing but black flies, ( Buffalo Gnats ,Simulium) and totally ignored the fact that some species are known to transmit Onchocerca. Black Fly specimens were taken to OSU by the reporter covering the story.
members4.boardhost.com/Kritters/msg/2058.htmlTULSA WORLD January 25, 1995
By: Bill Swindell, World Staff Writer
TAHLEQUAH - Although rumors have run rampant, a public health official and a doctor said they have no evidence of a parasitic mite that has supposedly infected four families.
Marvin Apple, administrator for the Cherokee County Health Office, said that no one has contacted him concerning the allegations outlined in a letter that has been mailed to reporters in northeast Oklahoma.
"I don't have much," said Apple, who added his only inquiries on the subject have been from reporters. "I haven't seen any people personally on this. I haven't come up with anything."
The letter describes a Tahlequah woman who was said to have broken out in a rash around Thanksgiving and was supposedly told by a doctor that she had pigeon mites. The mites are rumored to burrow into hair follicles and lay eggs.
The letter claims the parasite infected her husband, a Muskogee family and two Fort Gibson families.
The letter says that no one could cure the families.
Apple said he was concerned that the letter could spread fear, although there is no official report of the infection.
Typically, a lab or a doctor treating such a case would immediately inform his office, Apple said.
"I don't know if these folks have ever gone to a doctor," Apple said.
Alan Kocan, a parasitologist at Oklahoma State University, said a television reporter brought him two insect samples from a man who claimed to suffer from the parasites.
Kocan said he found a mosquito-like insect known as a black fly. It is a pest that is commonly found in the eastern part of the state, near running water.
It is not harmful, Kocan said. " In the country, they are there in very large numbers." said Kocan, who added that this winter's mild weather may have brought more of the insects out.
"All you can see is a black dot," Kocan said of the black fly, also known as a buffalo gnat.
members4.boardhost.com/Kritters/msg/2060.htmlLate 1994
Suspected Mites Just Bugs, Spider
By Billl Swindell, WORLD Staff Writer
MUSKOGEE - Health Officials announced test results Tuesday on two samples submitted by people who thought they were infected with a parasitic mite. The samples turned out to b harmless insects.
Ron Reeves, the administrator for the Muskogee County Health Office, said a family came to him last week and provided two jars ugs that they found at their home.
Researchers a the State Department of Health in Oklahoma City, identified them as two fruit flies, a spider and numerous lint fibers, Reeves said.
In a separate test, an Oklahoma State University parasitologist found that samples submitted by a family who had made the same claim were buffalo gnats, harmless mosquito-like insects.
An anonymous letter mailed to reports in northeastern Oklahoma warned of an epidemic spreading throughout Cherokee and Muskogee counties.
The letter said a Tahlequah woman was supposed to have broken out with a rash around Thanksgiving and was supposed to have been told by a doctor that she had pigeon mites. The letter claimed that the parasite was spreading and there was no cure.
Reeves, citing confidentiality laws, would not say whether his samples and those studied at OSU were from the same family.
But he said only one family had come to his office, and he considered the case closed.
<end of article>
NOTE: Black Flies and Buffalo Gnats (Simuliidae) are major vectors of Onchocerciasis. There was no mention of this fact in these articles, and in fact no mention that even if the Black Flies were not vectors of Onchocerciasis in Oklahoma, according to an entomology book, "horses may be killed by the bites of blackflies, death resulting from a pathologic reaction to the blackfly saliva rather than from loss of blood." and "Blackflies transmit at least one duck disease similar in many respects to malaria." Reference: A Textbook of Entomology Herbert H. Ross.
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members4.boardhost.com/Kritters/msg/2061.html 11-20-95 Notes: Mary Van Horn - Inside Edition 1-800-334-8466
Spoke with the following persons within the past few days. NPA, Dr. Omar M. Amin, Phoenix, Az., State of Oklahoma Health Department, and Tom Taylor, Muskogee, Okla. Halth Dept. regarding skin parasites reported in Oklahoma.
Kathy Bareiss - Staff Reporter, Mesa Tribune (602) 821-7466
25 South Arizona Place #565
Chandler, Az. 85225
Kathy Bareiss wrote an article about the skin parasite reports published in the Mesa Tribune early 1996, prior to the story published in the National Examiner, May 7, 1996 edition.
Martha Brownlee, KFMB-TV Channel 8. , 7677 Engineer Road, San Diego, Ca., 92111. Phone (619) 495-7567, Fax (619) 560-0627
KFMB-TV, P.O. Box 85888, San Diego, Ca., 92186
This story was aired possibly in early 1997 on the evening news. Several San Diego residents reporting this parasite were interviewed.
Little America, Wyoming, May 16, 1996, reports of Springtails infesting residents. This reporting may have originated on an Indian Reservation. Notes refer to Gail Miller, Health Department Officer who had been in touch with Dr. Roger Nasci, CDC, Ft. Collins, Colorado, who was supposedly accepting specimens. This information was provided by a resident of the State of Arizona.
ALSO, KSAN-TV, San Diego did a piece probably 1995 about this skin parasite thing and interviewed several people in San Diego. According to one of those interviewed, six people in the San Diego area who lived less than two miles from the ocean and in a two square mile area had the parasite and some of them had tremendous swelling.
members4.boardhost.com/Kritters/msg/2059.htmlThis article appeared in the National Examiner during late 1994. The names (personal Identifiers) have been removed.
Horrific Disease Feels like Insects are eating you alive. By: Shelby Loosch
Doctors across the U.S. are itching to get their hands on a cure for a myserious condition that has its victims crawling out of their skins. "It feels like a million spiders on you, like your clothes are biting you," says ______ _______of Chandler, Arizona.
"I literally watched fibers come off my stomach. My hair fell out in gobs."
______tried the prescription pesticide lindane, which is effective against lice and scabies -- but to no avail.
Experts are baffled by reports of the bizarre bug-biting disease, which has struck people in 22 states, and even pushed victims to attempted suicide!
Common symptoms include peeling, itching and scarring, blotchy red rashes, bizarre lesions, black specks on the skin and insect-like sensations that feel like bites or pinpricks.
"What it is and what is the cause of it, whether it's been due to bugs or not, has never been found out,"says Dr. ________an epidemiologist for the _________State Health Department.
Some doctors believe the condition is caused by an insect called Collembola or Springtail, which normally feeds on plants.
Others have found no medical evidence of parasites and say the problem is delusory parasitosis, a psychiatric disorder in which the victims believe their bodies are infested with live organisms.
"We have a stream of people bringing samples of things they say are crawling out of their body," says Dr. Roger Nasci, an entomologist with the Centers for Disease Control's branch office in Fort Collins, Colorado.
"Some will dump a Mason jar of lint and say: 'They are crawling on me.'
"We sort through the things and find only bits of hair, clothing, skin and occasional dust mites. Nothing we can identify matches the description of what they are saying."
But victims of the creepy-crawly conditions insist the problem isn't just in their heads.
"It's destroying ___ says _____ of _____. "These things act like worms. Something is in there and I've got to know what it is.
If I knew I had some hope, I could go on. This is a living hell on earth. They've got to find a solution soon!"