Post by ginna898 on Jul 15, 2011 1:15:43 GMT -5
www.telegraph.co.uk/health/8626767/Morgellons-Disease-continues-to-defeat-scientists.html
July 15, 2011
Excerpt:
So what all does this mean for Nick Mann? Are the fibres in his skin real? Is he delusional? Or does he have an undiagnosed nerve disorder?
In fact, Nick turned out to be an extraordinary case. While it's common for GPs to diagnose patients claiming to suffer from unexplained itching as delusional, this was unlikely in his case, because Nick himself is a GP.
"I took the three mites I'd caught to our local Homerton Hospital," he says. "A technician mounted one on a slide, put it under a microscope and said 'Beautiful'. Everyone gathered around saying 'Ooh, look at that'."
It was definitely something. But they didn't know what. "They sent it to the Natural History Museum, which identified it within a day," says Nick, "as a Tropical Rat Mite."
Although museum experts doubted the mites could live on the skin, the GP has no doubt that is what they were doing. "What these mites do is go in through the hair follicles and find a blood vessel at the bottom. That's where they sit and that's what the 'fibres' are – their legs folded back."
Nick, who treated himself with an antiparasitic drug to eradicate the infection, can only guess that he picked up the mites walking in the cemetery. Despite the name, they are not exclusive to hot climates.
Nick believes it likely that many patients who claim to have Morgellons are actually infected by Tropical Rat Mites. However, he agrees with Dr Oaklander that this diagnosis is unlikely to explain all cases. "There doesn't appear to be a single explanation for it," he says.
Perhaps the mystery will finally be solved when the Centers for Disease Control release their report. Currently in the peer-review process, publication is thought to be imminent.
July 15, 2011
Excerpt:
So what all does this mean for Nick Mann? Are the fibres in his skin real? Is he delusional? Or does he have an undiagnosed nerve disorder?
In fact, Nick turned out to be an extraordinary case. While it's common for GPs to diagnose patients claiming to suffer from unexplained itching as delusional, this was unlikely in his case, because Nick himself is a GP.
"I took the three mites I'd caught to our local Homerton Hospital," he says. "A technician mounted one on a slide, put it under a microscope and said 'Beautiful'. Everyone gathered around saying 'Ooh, look at that'."
It was definitely something. But they didn't know what. "They sent it to the Natural History Museum, which identified it within a day," says Nick, "as a Tropical Rat Mite."
Although museum experts doubted the mites could live on the skin, the GP has no doubt that is what they were doing. "What these mites do is go in through the hair follicles and find a blood vessel at the bottom. That's where they sit and that's what the 'fibres' are – their legs folded back."
Nick, who treated himself with an antiparasitic drug to eradicate the infection, can only guess that he picked up the mites walking in the cemetery. Despite the name, they are not exclusive to hot climates.
Nick believes it likely that many patients who claim to have Morgellons are actually infected by Tropical Rat Mites. However, he agrees with Dr Oaklander that this diagnosis is unlikely to explain all cases. "There doesn't appear to be a single explanation for it," he says.
Perhaps the mystery will finally be solved when the Centers for Disease Control release their report. Currently in the peer-review process, publication is thought to be imminent.