Strange New Disease: Morgellons

Dr. Gregory Smith wants people to know it's not all in his head. According to the Gainesville, Ga., pediatrician, white fibers have been burrowing into his skin for the past two years, making him feel like he's under constant bombardment from insects or cactus needles. Shine a black light on these fibers and they'll fluoresce blue, he says, just like something you'd see in The Twilight Zone. He describes looking into the mirror one night, only to see one burrow down into his eye.

"Yes ma'am, I was a little bit distraught," recalls Smith, 58, who says he can no longer work because his mysterious ailment has also robbed him of his memory and neurological function.
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For Smith, and some 4,000 people across the nation who claim to suffer from similar symptoms, it's the reaching out that has been problematic. The disease, called Morgellons after a reference in a 1674 medical paper, isn't officially recognized by the medical community...No one knows what causes Morgellons and no one knows how to cure it.

But Smith and his fellow sufferers are itching for answers. That's why they've pressured the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to assemble a team of scientists who will determine whether this disease is in fact for real. The 13-member team is expected to share their findings within the next two months.

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