ArticleBMC dermatology2015
Exploring the association between Morgellons disease and Lyme disease: identification of Borrelia burgdorferi in Morgellons disease patients.
Article in BMC dermatology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 50 citations in OpenAlex.
- Morgellons disease: a narrative review.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024Review
- Perceived Conjunctival Foreign Material Egress in Morgellons Disease: A Case Study.Case reports in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Treatment of Morgellons disease with doxycycline.Clinical case reports · 2021Article
- Dermatological and Genital Manifestations of Lyme Disease Including Morgellons Disease.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2021Article
- Article
- Classification and Staging of Morgellons Disease: Lessons from Syphilis.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2020Article
- MixedHealthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Clinical evaluation of Morgellons disease in a cohort of North American patients.Dermatology reports · 2018Article
- Persistent Borrelia Infection in Patients with Ongoing Symptoms of Lyme Disease.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018Article
- Reframing delusional infestation: perspectives on unresolved puzzles.Psychology research and behavior management · 2018Review
- History of Morgellons disease: from delusion to definition.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2018Review
- Better drugs for Lyme disease: focus on the spirochete.Infection and drug resistance · 2018Article
- Detection of tick-borne infection in Morgellons disease patients by serological and molecular techniques.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2018Article
- Morgellons Disease.Annals of dermatology · 2017Article
- Empirical validation of the Horowitz Multiple Systemic Infectious Disease Syndrome Questionnaire for suspected Lyme disease.International journal of general medicine · 2017Article
- Detection of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto and Borrelia garinii DNAs in patient with Hyperkeratosis lenticularis perstans (Flegel disease).Folia microbiologica · 2016Article
- Morgellons disease: a filamentous borrelial dermatitis.International journal of general medicine · 2016Review
- Erosive Vulvovaginitis Associated With Borrelia burgdorferi Infection.Journal of investigative medicine high impact case reportsArticle
- Morgellons disease: A myth or reality?Indian dermatology online journalArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMorgellons disease (MD) is a complex skin disorder characterized by ulcerating lesions that have protruding or embedded filaments. Many clinicians refer to this condition as delusional parasitosis or delusional infestation and consider the filaments to be introduced textile fibers. In contrast, recent studies indicate that MD is a true somatic illness associated with tickborne infection, that the filaments are keratin and collagen in composition and that they result from proliferation and activation of keratinocytes and fibroblasts in the skin. Previously, spirochetes have been detected in the dermatological specimens from four MD patients, thus providing evidence of an infectious process. METHODS &
resultsBased on culture, histology, immunohistochemistry, electron microscopy and molecular testing, we present corroborating evidence of spirochetal infection in a larger group of 25 MD patients. Irrespective of Lyme serological reactivity, all patients in our study group demonstrated histological evidence of epithelial spirochetal infection. Strength of evidence based on other testing varied among patients. Spirochetes identified as Borrelia strains by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and/or in-situ DNA hybridization were detected in 24/25 of our study patients. Skin cultures containing Borrelia spirochetes were obtained from four patients, thus demonstrating that the organisms present in dermatological specimens were viable. Spirochetes identified by PCR as Borrelia burgdorferi were cultured from blood in seven patients and from vaginal secretions in three patients, demonstrating systemic infection. Based on these observations, a clinical classification system for MD is proposed.
conclusionsOur study using multiple detection methods confirms that MD is a true somatic illness associated with Borrelia spirochetes that cause Lyme disease. Further studies are needed to determine the optimal treatment for this spirochete-associated dermopathy.
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