CDC Investigating Morgellon's Disease

The federal government may soon launch an investigation into a mysterious disease that attacks the skin and brain function of patients. <br/><br/>Earlier this month, the News on 6 told you about Morgellons

Friday, July 28th 2006, 10:45 am

By: News On 6

The federal government may soon launch an investigation into a mysterious disease that attacks the skin and brain function of patients.

Earlier this month, the News on 6 told you about Morgellons Disease and the strange fibers found popping out of the skin of those affected.

Despite years of debate in the medical community that it's all in the patients' heads, as more cases come to light, more doctors are now taking it seriously.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin talks to one of the nation's leading researchers in the fight based in Tulsa. When Dr. Randy Wymore first heard about "the fiber disease" he was among the many skeptics. Patients complained of sores that wouldn't heal, a crawling feeling in their bodies, problems concentrating and communicating and strangest of all, red and blue fibers appearing under their skin. "This just can't possibly be true, is it?"

So he decided to take a closer look. He compared fibers from Morgellons patients all over the country. They all looked the same. Some say the fibers are something simply stuck to the patientâ€™s skin, possibly from their clothing. But Dr. Wymore compared the patient fibers to hundreds of different environmental samples. From fabric to dust to carpet fuzz, he simply couldn't find a match to any common substance. The microscopic fibers seem to be forming inside the body. "We have seen fibers in unbroken skin. That's, that's hard to say that's just fuzz from their clothing."

In the next few weeks Dr. Wymore hopes to find out the chemical structure of the fibers to figure out exactly what they are. So is Morgellons highly contagious? Doctors aren't sure. Dr. Wymore says in some cases entire families show the symptoms. "But on the other hand, we have examples of unrelated significant others, husbands, spouses, wives, where one might have had it for four to six years and the other one has no symptoms ever."

Patients other doctors have dismissed as having psychological problems are coming to OSUâ€™s Center for Health Sciences to be examined. "Even some of the physicians who choose to believe this is a purely psychiatric disorder, they've admitted to me they've never actually looked. But because it sounds impossible therefore it is."

Dr. Wymore and his colleagues are convinced something real and unknown is affecting these people.

To find out more about Morgellons Disease, check out the foundation's website at www.morgellons.org.