Body Bugs: An Emerging Infection?

Very weird. I'd suppose bugs like that would be pretty easy to spot if the people infected was given a careful examination. It also seems weird that the immune systems of the people supposedly infected ain't fighting back. Maybe if the infection is in the upper layers of the skin, then they're out of reach for the immune system.

Not really that astonishing. More of the same kind of trash journalism I've come to expect these days.

Awful damn strange. Reminds me of Morgellon's Syndrome people.

It seems like this should be fairly easy to validate doesn't it? Scrub someone down, put in johnny, put in clean room, wait for bugs to appear in clean room. It's hard to tell if any of this is actually valid in the clip, the news people don't seem too intersted in proving that it's real. One comment caught me though, the younger woman calims she has bugs everywhere, including in her bones. How, I wonder, did she prove that she has bugs in her bones? Would a bug show up in an X-Ray or MRI or anything like that? Wouldn't the bone be denser than the bugs. Not to mention, how on earth did the get there. Is there any valid research into these people beyond NBC news? Or is the answer just so boring nobody out there feels like saying anything? If it is legit, it sounds really interesting.

I've run into this once before. Yes, if the "bugs" were real bugs, you'd think that they would be easy enough to find, medically. I know of two credible possibilities:

1. There ARE bugs: most likely micrscopic mites in or on the skin, in conjunction with a condition/allergen which affects nerve response. It's absolutely possible that the "feeling" of the bugs is a response to genuine nerve input, but an initially very small input is being magnified by malfunction to a large signal.

2. It's a neural condition, alright, possibly in the form of malfunction in the motor homunculus, or chemical changes similar to what happens in the DTs. The sensation is absolutely real, but arises from something happening within the brain itself.

These things could be tested, but there is probably little funding to do so. I wonder if anyone is?

yes, i find it really strange that no one in the medical community seems to have been taking this seriously, until (apparently) the news report came out. the least that could be done is to show that the bug infested people are wackos and get them the help they need or show that they are not wackos, and get them the help they need. that's why i put up this video, in the hopes that someone in the medical world would see it and be intrigued enough to look into it further.

With true delusional parasitosis (which is a very well described phenomenon, also known as Ekbom's Syndrome), healthcare staff can't compel treatment for someone who won't accept the diagnosis. Of course, true infestation or dermatological condition has to be ruled out first, as do other things like cocaine use.

DP is often a monodelusional condition, and people with isolated delusional parasitosis are not considered a danger to themselves or others, and it's their own choice as to whether to accept psychiatric management. By definition, delusions are not amenable to reasoned debunking, but they do tend to disappear with antipsychotics, a test that only makes sense in retrospect.

DP can seem to be triggered by a long-gone minor infestation or itchy skin condition, and sufferers often present with a classic pattern of traumatic ulcers from picking at their skin, as well as collections of lint, skin fragments, or bugs collected from their environment.

http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/179_04_180803/le10588_fm.html

http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic939.htm

Luna, your second hypothesis really rang a bell for me because when I am under stress I often get a crawly sensation, like bugs are crawling in me. Incidentally I also have had restless legs syndrome (went away when I quit birth control pills), and RLS is also common in pregnant women. It may be that there are some kinds of neural conditions that create the sensation of bugs, or of having to move your muscles as in RLS.
RLS sucks big time, by the way.

This is called delusional parasitosis and folie a deux.

The condition isn't even close to new, I've been hearing about it (occasionally) for years.

the least that could be done is to show that the bug infested people are wackos and get them the help they need or show that they are not wackos, and get them the help they need.

<Wince> Come on, you should know better than that! One self-contained delusion does not make a "whacko", much less if there's a neurological condition feeding it. These folks may be distraught and/or disruptive, but I'd bet their overall grasp on reality is a lot tighter than, say, the Time Cube guy -- or even, say, Ken Ham et al. And nevermind the homeless guy ranting on the corner....

sorry david, i know that "wacko" is a vaguely judgmental term. i just felt safe using it because i myself spent four months on a state psychiatric ward (i think you were reading my blog during that time, right?). in fact, i am only six months post-discharge from the hospital, and the world still feels weird to me at times.

anyway, you are correct regarding your comment about one self-contained delusion. i know plenty of people who are "crazy in one way" but who have a perfectly firm grasp on reality. certainly, the people i was locked up with fit that description, as did i (or so i hope!).

Dude, I am totally itchy now!

GS: Well, yeah, that's why I was saying "you should know better" rather than flaming about intolerance. Myself, I've had to unlearn a few things about autism recently.... And I still meet people who think "Learning Disabled" == "retarded".

... the world still seems weird to me at times.

Well, that's entirely sane! The world is weird, dang it!... and especially the human part.

I take care of my sister since she has contacte
morgellons and it all too real!!! One day I scrub down her legs in a tub of shallow water
and it was full of bugs which I have in a jar!!This condition is like something from the Xfiles!!!

Folks, this disease is real. I know many people who have it who haven't gotten a proper diagnosis because the medical community doesn't know about the disease and don't have a treatment. I've had morgellons for years now. The diagnosis of delusional parasitosis is supposed to be one (per the AMA) of elimination of all other possibilities. This is not happening; doctors are not taking samples/tests before dismmissing patients as delusional. All sufferers I have met have all the same symptoms as I do -- which are many and varied, but specific. This is too much to be a coincidence. The CDC is playing politics -- they don't want to acknowledge the disease until they can identify it and a treatment, otherwise the public will be spooked. The public should be spooked -- many, many more people have this disease than have been identified. The early stages are easily dismissed by the individual until it can't be ignored -- then their doctors dismiss it and these individuals end up suffering in silence.

I DONT KNOW WATS GOING ON BUT I GET THESE FEELINGS OF BUGS CRAWALING INSIDE MY BODY EVERY SINCE I WOKE UP ONE DAY AND SEEN IN HAD A LITTLE KNOT ON MY SIDE , DOCTOR SAYS IT COULD HAVE BEEN A SPIDER BITE OR SOMETHING I DON'T KNOW BUT EVERY SINCE THEN I HAVE BEEN HAVN THIS FEELIN...I HATE IT!!! ITS SCARY N I HAVEN'T BEEN TO THE DOCTOR SINCE I WANT TO GO AND SEE IF I REALLY HAVE SOMETHING INSIDE OF ME , KINDA SCARED THO

I have bugs coming out of me too just like on the news report on Fox. I live in a small conservative town and am having a nightmare trying to get someone to believe me. My sister has seen all my things but nobody is going to believe either of us. HELP! What can I do?

When you see the bugs, catch them put them in a containter and show it to doctor. Best of luck I too suffer with this problem, they hurt!!!!

i have had these critters all summer, there in my bed my feet bathroom floor, I have to clean my complete toilet,the B.fLOOR WITH 91% ALCOHOL FOR MY FAMILY. Theres no rest for me. I boil my sheets use 80 min. dryer cycle vacume bed couch carpets drapes also in my boiling water I use 1 whole box of table sheets are done every day....I soak with 1 capful of chlorine bleach for Inf. and to kill bugs 1-2 boxes of table salt its temporary but you got to do what you can.these little balls don't seem to be alive,i gathered some add water under mag.sprayed 91% and they move and well i hope you believe me. I'm 61, my Daughter and husband witnessed my experiment,I don't know how much longer i can do this for my DRs don't believe me. I also spray our bed with 91% alcohol and other things as well if anyone knows anything please e-mail eve