Skin Deep explores the controversy of Morgellons Disease: with its bizarre symptoms and contentious scientific proof, you’ll wonder who is delusional—the patients who believe or the doctors who deny.
According to Lyme Disease.org, the film gives both sides of the debate but but there is recent peer-reviewed scientific evidence that links Morgellons to Lyme disease and has proven that the source of the suffering is biological and likely borrelia: https://www.lymedisease.org/morgellons-movie-oct5/
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THE MOVIE’S DONE! HERE COMES OUR EDUCATION CAMPAIGN:
The documentary is complete (!) and we’re bringing it to the most important “influencers” we know of… medical students.
Your tax-deductible donation to our Morgellons Disease Education Campaign will fund screenings of this documentary in medical schools, universities, conferences, and communities around the world. The more money we raise, the more places we can screen, and the more medical students and professionals we’ll educate.
As of August 24 2019 we have 4 educational screenings booked, and we’d like to book 96 more. Please donate to help us achieve this goal!
Together we can make a difference. We can educate young doctors and nurses about Morgellons disease. We can foster empathy where there was once dismissal. And we can change the world for the better.
Can you tell us what kind of science you practice and describe how that applies to your work?
What is the extent of your involvement with the Charles Holman Foundation?
Is the diagnostic criteria for Morgellons just the fibers under the skin or are there any other symptoms specific to the Morgellons condition?
In 2012 the CDC accomplished a study of Morgellons but could not determine an infectious agent. Why couldn’t they and how can you find these pathogens and what exactly did you find?
Why does the serologic test for Lyme not reveal bacterial infection in those who it is apparent, like in Morgellons patients?
Can you describe the culture method you employed for your research?
How strong is the evidence that Lyme disease is sexually transmissible?
Is it true that Deer do not get Lyme disease?
Is it true that most people who get Lyme don’t get Morgellons, but most Morgellons patients do get Lyme?
Can some people carry Lyme bacteria without health consequence?
What was your research in the South American jungles regarding?
Is Morgellons associated with mold or fungus?
Can you explain what a follicular cast is, what it is made of and how they relate to Morgellons patients?
Can someone have follicular casts but not the Morgellons fibers?
Your latest study demonstrates mixed bacterial biofilms in Morgellons patients, what are biofilms?
You also detected Alzheimer’s plaques in the skin, are there other conditions where Alzheimer’s plaques are discovered in other parts of the body?
In your study you tested 6 of 14 patients for tau and beta-amyloid, why not the other eight?
Is it likely then that the six might develop Alzheimer’s?
Some of your research demonstrates the Morgellons condition in Dogs, and BVV in cattle. Do other animals have Morgellons like birds and cats?
What is the difference between relapsing fever, dental spirochetes, and Lyme and how are all three associated with Morgellons?
What is H-pylori and do all Morgellons patients have it?
Is Morgellons associated with Bartonella?
Your latest study cites research demonstrating beneficial biofilms producing melanin, is this suspected of a possible mechanism by which Morgellons fibers are colored?
What does blind controlled and peer-reviewed mean and how many labs are replicating your work? How does the scientific process work from where you sit?
What is your proudest achievement in regards to your research, Morgellons or otherwise?
What can people watching at home do to help you produce more answers about Morgellons?
Do you have any personal causes or charities that you are passionate about?
The CDC disclaimer states:
“A surveillance case definition is a set of uniform criteria used to define a disease for public health surveillance. Surveillance case definitions enable public health officials to classify and count cases consistently across reporting jurisdictions. Surveillance case definitions are not intended to be used by healthcare providers for making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient’s health needs.”
Background: Morgellons disease (MD) is a dermopathy that is associated with tick-borne illness. It is characterized by spontaneously developing skin lesions containing embedded or projecting filaments, and patients may also experience symptoms resembling those of Lyme disease (LD) including musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiovascular manifestations. Various species of Borrelia and co-infecting pathogens have been detected in body fluids and tissue specimens from MD patients. We sought to investigate the coexistence of Borrelia burgdorferi(Bb) and Helicobacter pylori(Hp) in skin specimens from MD subjects, and to characterize their association with mixed amyloid biofilm development.
Methods: Testing for Bb and Hp was performed on dermatological specimens from 14 MD patients using tissue culture, immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) and confocal microscopy. Markers for amyloid and biofilm formation were investigated using histochemical and IHC staining.
Results: Bb and Hp were detected in dermatological tissue taken from MD lesions. Bb and Hp tended to co-localize in foci within the epithelial tissue. Skin sections exhibiting foci of co-infecting Bb and Hp contained amyloid markers including β-amyloid protein, thioflavin and phosphorylated tau. The biofilm marker alginate was also found in the sections.
Conclusions: Mixed Bb and Hp biofilms containing β-amyloid and phosphorylated tau may play a role in the evolution of MD. View Full-Text
Trailer for the upcoming film, SKIN DEEP The Battle Over Morgellons, about the facts surrounding the contested and misunderstood illness often referred to as fiber disease. This film highlights the personal story of Charles E. Holman Foundation President Cindy Casey and her struggle with Morgellons disease. Also in this film, a Morgellons conference of the suffering is filmed as guest professionals are invited to view the evidence that Morgellons is not a psychosomatic illness. http://www.morgellonsmovie.org/http://thecehf.org/
In December of 2018, the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group released its first report to Congress regarding the epidemic of emerging disease. This article gives a basic rundown of relevant statements contained in the first of three TBDWG reports to Congress.
What is the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group?
The TBDWG is a fourteen-member panel of infectious disease professionals called together in light of the 21st Century Cures Act and organized by the Department of Health and Human Services. This group is tasked with reviewing the current science and treatment progress of the various tick-borne diseases and reporting their findings to Congress every two years in December. December 2018 saw the first report, there will be a second report in December 2020 followed by final recommendations at the end of 2022.
So what does this first report detail regarding Morgellons disease? Let’s dive in and find out!
Chronic Lyme Disease
At the start of the first TBDWG report it is stated,
“While most Lyme disease patients who are diagnosed and treated early can fully recover, 10 to 20% of patients suffer from persistent symptoms, which for some are chronic and disabling. Studies indicate that Lyme disease costs approximately $1.3 billion each year in direct medical costs alone in the United States.”
Sounds promising, but what about the insensitive testing methods? What does the report say about early diagnosis and why there are so many false negatives? Amazingly the report addresses these concerns directly, “Today, available diagnostic tests can be inaccurate and complex to interpret, especially during the earliest stage of infection when treatment is most effective. Unlike in other infectious disease settings, tests to directly measure the presence of the infecting organism, such as cultures or tissue biopsies, are not available for some tick-borne diseases such as Lyme disease. This leaves physicians without the tools needed to diagnose; and without an accurate diagnosis, it is challenging for physicians to provide early treatment.”
Wow! With that kind of admission about standard Lyme testing, you would expect similar honesty regarding other controversial aspects of Lyme disease. What about congenital transmission then, what does this report state about Lyme infecting unborn children?
Lyme Congenital Transmission
From the report, the sole instance of recognition appears on page 53 in the chapter titled “Treatment”. It states,
“Pregnancy: Transplacental infection of the human fetus has been recognized for relapsing fever borreliosis, as well as Lyme disease, babesiosis, and certain arthropodborne flaviviruses. Pregnancy poses particular challenges for treatment because few antimicrobials have been approved and are safe to use during pregnancy. Additional research into appropriate treatment options are needed.”
It’s right there in black and white and from the red, white and blue state of American Freedom and Democracy! Why then would the World Health Organization remove such an apparent consideration from its medical coding system?
But what about Morgellons specifically? What does this report elicit about those afflicted with this particular skin manifestation that’s been thoroughly associated with tick-borne disease?
What’s in the report for Morgellons?
Keyword analysis of the report reveals seventeen instances of the term “skin” speckled throughout. The first instance is regarding frequent skin lesions that occur early in the infectious process. It continues to state that with early treatment the better prognosis can be achieved. While that’s great and everything, what else does it say about skin lesions that may be particularly relevant?
Morgellons Disease
The next two instances of “skin” in the report occur regarding utilizing skin agents to deter ticks from attaching to the skin. The following six instances regard the characteristic erythema migrans bullseye rash and that relates to early diagnosis. This section is interesting in that it elaborates on the many kinds of erythema migrans that can occur and gives a visual presentation of each. Still, none of these erythema migrans look anything at all like Morgellons ulcerations.
The tenth and eleventh occurrence of the term “skin” in the first of three TBDWG reports to Congress are of interest as they describe Figure 10 in the report, “Skin Rashes of Tick-Borne Diseases”. Figure 10.a depicts Tularemia which is a Tick-Borne Infection (TBI) that produces lesions in the skin. The difference between Tularemia and Morgellons, however, is Tularemia does not produce collagenous fibers, which are the defining characteristic of Morgellons disease.
Tularemia Lesion
Occurrence twelve describes how skin rashes present early in dissemination and appears alongside a figure that demonstrates how the IgM response falls off over time, leaving a patient with primarily elevated IgG antibodies.
“Skin” appears for the thirteenth and fourteenth time in the report regarding the challenges of diagnosing skin rashes in individuals with darker skin tone. This section stresses the importance of TBI education in areas where Lyme is not considered endemic, as a lapse in diagnosis can result in severe patient complications.
The fifteenth and sixteenth use of the term “skin” appear alongside information regarding how the disease disseminates from the skin to other organs of the body in the sixth chapter which details treatment. This section is completely fascinating, eliciting how infected patients are more susceptible to re-infection and how mice vaccinated against influenza produced a suppressed immune response to the flu in light of their infection with Borrelia burgdorferi.
If Lyme disease can suppress the immune response for diseases other than itself, what else can it accomplish?
The final instance of the term “skin” in the TBDWG report to Congress is alongside recognition of NIAMS, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. We went to the NIAMS website and was not at all surprised to produce a lack of search results for the term “Morgellons“.
The first TBDWG Report is surprising. It’s not at all littered with propaganda and falsehoods that plague our esteemed medical establishments. Besides not directly addressing Morgellons the report does reveal several controversial facts about Lyme disease that many in official health agencies currently disagree about. This is a refreshing move in what could be considered a positive direction.
This report did not try to appease the establishment, but at the same time, it doesn’t explore the full extent of the Lyme pandemic. The fact is the fourteen members of the TBDWG have two more reports to produce, and we know for certain many of them are aware of the significance Morgellons has relating to their efforts.
If a grade was to be applied to the first report it feels like this initial effort deserves a solid B+.
Madison Area Lyme Support Group 