Examining the fibers -- strange properties indeed!

Without the threads or fibers that Morgellons victims claim to extract from their lesions, their symptoms are not unique. Itching and the crawling sensation are common when the skin is irritated or there is an allergic reaction. Scratching the skin with one's fingernails can open the skin to infections and prevent natural healing. What makes Morgellons symptoms unique are these fibers. So an analysis of these artifacts should tell us volumes about whether this is some new disease or a common one.

We all have fibers on our skin. Just have a look at your own skin. Bits and pieces of our clothing rub off and stick to our skin all the time -- just look at the lint in your belly button! So the first thing scientists did was to examine the Morgellons fibers to see where they might have originated.

The FBI keeps an extensive catalog of threads, hair and fiber for forensic analysis. With just one thread, for example, they can match the year and model of automotive carpeting, or the manufacturer of a particular item of clothing. But when the Morgellons specimens were submitted to the FBI Forensic Lab and examined they could not be matched!

The next step was to determine the composition of the fibers. What were they made from?

Morgellons fibers all have one thing in common -- they appear to originate in the skin lesions of their victims. But individually they are quite different in both appearance and composition. There are fuzzy white fibers, sometimes called "cotton balls", that are found growing on top of the skin lesions. Then there are the colored fibers or threads, usually pink, blue or black, that are found under the skin -- even in the surrounding healthy tissue -- and often poke through the lesions. Then there are clear fibers that have a small golden bulb on the end.

The white fuzzy fibers or cotton balls were found to be fluorescent. This means that they glow when exposed to ultraviolet light. Since no human cells have fluorescent properties this was quite a surprise.

Scientists have observed that certain marine organisms like jellyfish have the ability to glow in the dark, or fluoresce. This property has advantages for organisms that live deep under the water where there is little sunlight. By using a procedure called Trans-genetics, the DNA from jellyfish has been artificially inserted in the genetic information of other organisms, causing them to glow. Below are examples of trans-genetic goldfish and pigs. The fluorescent properties are spliced into certain genes to enable scientists to "tag" these genes and better understand their function.

 

 

Finding this fluorescent property in a human body is not natural. It suggests that the glowing fuzzy fibers quite possibly originated from a trans-genetic organism that was residing in the Morgellons lesion. Scientists wanted to know how such an organism got in to the Morgellons victims.

Next the scientists next tried to determine the composition of these fuzzy filaments. They attempted to dissolve the material in a strong hydrochloric acid preparation -- but to their surprise it did not dissolve! So they ground the fiber with a mortar and pestle, separated the components by letting them migrate across a gel in an an electric field, then used a technique called spectroscopy to match them to known molecular profiles. The results showed that the fibers were made from human serum albumin (the liquid part of human blood that contains proteins) and cytoskeletal keratin (the stuff our hair and fingernails are made from). That would be expected if these fibers were just fine body hairs or fuzz, but what was making them fluorescent?

Upon further examination, the fluorescent properties were found to come from a soluble substance that contained proteins from some very unusual organisms:

• a protein found in cow's milk [casein alpha S1];
• a bacteria found in sub-tropical water and soil [chromobacterium violaceum];
• a parasitic protozoa that causes East Coast Fever, usually transmitted through ticks [theileria prava];
• a rod shaped bacteria that is mobile by moving its flagellum and has been studied extensively in laboratories because of its unusual metabolism [azoarcus]; and
• a bacteria associated with fermentation that like salinity [leuconostoc mesenteroides]

All of these organisms have had their DNA sequenced in the last decade, which is quite a coincidence. But they should not have this fluorescent property! How did that happen? And how did all these proteins come from the Morgellons lesions?

What's even more weird in that despite having all these exotic proteins, there were no human protein profiles present in the florescent substance!

The pink and blue fibers were analysed and were found to have the chemical profile of polythene!

The analysis of these polythene fibers could justify the claims that these Morgellons threads are little more than common lint. But remember, the FBI lab could not match them to any known man-made fibers. Since they are common to Morgellons lesions we should expect that they would have a very well known origin.

The most enigmatic of the fibers are called "goldenheads." The fibers are frequently clear and sometimes hollow with a golden colored bulb on the end. They resemble a hair follicle with an intact root.

When scientists examined these filaments they discovered that they had an extremely high melting point -- about 1400F! They also discovered that they contained cellulose. Cellulose is the structural component of the primary cell wall of green plants, many forms of algae and the oomycetes. Some species of bacteria secrete it to form biofilms. Cellulose is the most common organic compound on Earth. About 33 percent of all plant matter is cellulose. The cellulose content of cotton is 90 percent and that of wood is 50 percent.

As stated earlier, Morgellons skin lesions have been found to be covered by a biofilm. Biofilms are a kind of sticky substance that acts like glue, sticking cells to eachother or to some type of surface. The film of tartar that you find on your teeth in the morning is a good example.

Cells that are stuck together with a biofilm have an advantage over other cells in that the body's immune system cannot easily penetrate this film to identify and kill them. Thus, an infection covered by a biofilm can multiply and fester and even avoid the effects of antibiotic agents.

 

Physicians are familiar with biofilms in the human body and they represent a challenge when combating resistent infectious diseases. Their appearance in Morgellons skin lesions is a mystery and is the reason why these open wounds grow and spread.

It's alive!   Electron microscopy of the Morgellons filaments reveals that they are not simple solid forms, rather, they are complex structures with internal structures. In some laboratory experiments these fibers have been shown to re-assemble when they are separated, to squirm and pulsate and even to reproduce. In the images above we see [A] a 1400x maginfication of some of the fibers collected from a Morgellons lesion. Next [B] is the same specimen maginfied 5600x. The last [C] shows what appears to be a bud forming on the side of a filament (5600x).   "Budding" structures are apparent on the sides of the fiber at occasional locations. The budding structures contain internal structures at the roughly micron or sub-micron size. Budding structures also often contain innumerable filaments within, measuring apparently at the sub-micron level (Limit of equipment reached). Reproduction and growth of the primary fiber structure may be closely linked to these budding structures. The budding structures generally appear to be quite complex in form, structure and organization.

 

A Strange Brew