Researchers to Study Mysterious Skin Disease

Written by Elizabeth Bishop, Senior Internet News Producer

 

Northern California will be the focus of a new government medical study of a bizarre skin condition called Morgellons.

Patients with the condition complain of sores erupting on the skin, mysterious threads popping out of them and a sensation that tiny bugs are crawling over the body. In the past two years some 1,200 people have contacted the CDC about the disease.

"Whether bacterial viral parasite inspects fungal -- none of those really explain how those fibers and specs are forming. It's very difficult to wrap ones head around this because there is no example of anything like this," said researcher Randy Wymore of Oklahoma State University.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is paying Kaiser Permanente to test and interview patients suffering from Morgellons' symptoms.