The Morgellons (sometimes Morgellons disease) is a skin condition with no agreed-upon physical cause or etiology, characterized by some doctors as delusional parasitosis or collective hysteria.

The symptoms are frequently characterized as rashes or non-healing skin lesions associated with unusual structures that look like granules and filaments, and in particular a burning or itching sensation as if small parasites are crawling on or under the skin. Many sufferers have previously contracted Lyme disease (borreliosis) and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Dr. William Harvey of Houston, Texas champions the disease as real but few medical professionals agree with him. A research foundation was created in 2002 by the mother of a child said to suffer from the condition, and has publicized the lack of research in local media outlets across the United States.

The name Morgellons, with a hard g, comes from the monograph A Letter to a Friend by Sir Thomas Browne, wherein he describes several medical conditions in his experience, including that endemial distemper of children in Languedoc, called the morgellons, wherein they critically break out with harsh hairs on their backs. A 1935 paper by British doctor C.E. Kellett identifies the name morgellons with the Provençal term masclous, or "little flies".

External links

• Morgellons Research Foundation
• Morgellons BBS
• Morgellons Disease: Is it real? - Museum of Hoaxes
• A Medical Mystery: Delusional Parasitosis - Reno Gazette-Journal
• A Letter to a Friend - Sir Thomas Browne
• A Note on A Letter to a Friend - C.E. Kellett