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Here's the latest in Morgellons research news

Marianne Middelveen, MDes & Raphael Stricker, MD

Marianne Middelveen (left) is a veterinary microbiologist from Calgary, Canada. In 2010, she noticed the similarity between Morgellons disease and a disease seen in cattle, known as Bovine Digital Dermatitis. The bovine illness is associated with lesions on the lower legs that contain filamentous projections and has a known spirochetal etiology. She paired up with San Francisco Internist Dr. Raphael Stricker (left ), and together they investigated the possibility that Morgellons might have a similar etiology. 

This pair of researchers were the first to detect spirochetes in Morgellons tissue, thus were the first to show an association with a known pathogen. They then assembled an international team of collaborators to more thoroughly investigate Morgellons disease. To date, the team has published 7 peer-reviewed scientific studies showing that the mysterious Morgellons fibers are actually human biofibers, that Morgellons lesions contain Lyme disease spirochetes and therefore that Morgellons is a true somatic illness. 

Eva Sapi, PhD
University of New Haven

In the last phase of the her research Dr. Eva Sapi (right) has successfully confirmed that two infectious organisms (Borrelia burgdorferi and Helicobacter pylori) present in Morgellons patient skin lesions using nested PCR, direct sequencing, and immunohistochemical methods. In the last several months, she further investigated the hypothesis that Borrelia and Helicobacter can make a structure called biofilm in these tissues. 

The data suggested that biofilm could provide an antibiotic resistant structure for Borrelia and Helicobacter as well as create an environment where amyloid type of changes can occur as well.  Her recent results show that Borrelia and Helicobacter positive aggregates and fibers can co-exist in MD tissues, proven by several different techniques (PCR, immuno, in situ techniques). Those Borrelia and Helicobacter positive aggregates are also positive for alginate (biofilm marker) and for some amyloid markers such as phospho tau suggesting that there are biofilms with amyloid-like changes present in these MD skin tissues. Furthermore, phospho-tau positivity in the MD skin could suggest that there could be a specific genetic variation in the MD patient which can make the Borrelia/Helicobacter infection produce fibers. 

Katherine Filush
MS. Lab assistant 

Randy S. Wymore, Ph.D
Director, OSU-CHS Center for the Investigation of Morgellons Disease

Morgellons disease has been denied as a “real” disease by many in the medical community. Many of those suffering from Morgellons have been vilified to add insult to the injury of the disease process.  A body of literature has been published over the last few years that provides evidence that Morgellons is in fact a genuine somatic disease that centers around bacterial infection by B. burgdorferi. In the Wymore lab at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences they are using a combination of microbiology and molecular biology strategies to further examine the details of the infective process. In addition to B. burgdorferi, Dr. Wymore and his team have identified H. pylori and T. denticola in Morgellons samples collected from a dispersed geographic area.  Dr. Wymore is in the process of finalizing the confirmation and sequencing of these samples prior to submission of a manuscript for publication. Neither of these bacteria are common environmental strains. Their presence in Morgellons skin samples is surprising and should lend further evidence to the obvious: that Morgellons disease in not a purely psychiatric condition the way many physicians have portrayed it.

News Highlight

The Atlas of Science spotlights : Exploring the association between Morgellons disease and Lyme disease and the identification of Borrelia burgdorferi in Morgellons disease patients.

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