Over the
past ten years, more than 100 000 people in the United States and in
Europe have
complained about a strange and devastating skin disease known as
Morgellons. The medical
community is divided between those who dismiss it as a psychological
disorder and those who
regard Morgellons as an emerging disease deserving further study. This
issue would
normally be confined to scientific medical journals if the Pentagon and
federal "law-enforcement" agencies were not so actively engaged in
hiding it from the public. In the first part of
his investigation, Hank Albarelli reports on a controversy which leads
straight to new
weapons experiments of the most secret order.
- http://www.morgellons-research.org/...
Three weeks ago, we
wrote about a “disease” known as
Morgellons
that very few people in the world know anything about. We placed the
word disease above in quotation marks only because a large number of
physicians refuse to recognize Morgellons as a medical affliction, with
some even refusing to treat patients who suffer from it.
We have listened to a long litany of accounts about doctors who have
literally laughed in the faces of Morgellons sufferers, male and female,
young and old, with many attempting to make referrals to psychologists.
Remarkably, other physicians have mounted web sites mocking and
attacking people who report they have Morgellons and those who write
about it. Some physicians have dubbed the disease
Delusions of Parasitosis, meaning it’s all in the patient’s head. Additionally, there is a website entitled
morgellonswatch.com
“dedicated to examining the claims made regarding what is termed
‘Morgellons Disease’” and to preventing “sick people into thinking they
may have a terrible disease.” Oddly, there are no formal individual or
institutional sponsoring names identified on this site.
Despite this seemingly general stance from the “medical community”
there are clear exceptions. Nearly every state across the US, and
country in Europe, has at least several medical professionals who regard
Morgellons as “a serious emerging infectious disease deserving study
and research.” Dr. Ahmed Kilani, Laboratory Director of Clongen
Laboratories, Germantown, Maryland, says, “I have personally listened to
detailed descriptions of the symptoms of this disease and something has
got to be done.”
At present, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia
is conducting a study of Morgellons in partnership with Kaiser
Permanente’s Northern California Division of Research. The study was
formally announced and launched in January 2008. The stated objective of
the study was “to learn about an unexplained skin condition known as
Morgellons.” The study, said a CDC spokesperson, was expected to “Take
up to 12 months or longer to complete.” Said the CDC’s Dr. Michele
Pearson, the principle investigator on the study, “We earnestly want to
learn more about this unexplained illness which impacts the lives of
those who suffer from it. Those who suffer have questions, and we want
to help them.”
Over two years past the CDC’s announcement it appears unknown as to
when the study will be completed or be released. About a month ago there
were unconfirmed reports that the study had been handed off entirely to
the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., an
identified partner in the study as explained by the CDC in 2008.
Morgellons Symptoms
The initial symptoms of Morgellons involve patients experiencing the
discomforting sensation of insects crawling on and biting or stinging
their skin. This sensation results in skin lesions that can appear much
like mild to severe cases of acne. The lesions can appear anywhere on a
patient’s body and quite often contain fiber-like strands or fibrous
material. The fibers are the most perplexing visible feature of
Morgellons. Often when an attempt is made to remove or extract the
fibers the material will resist and act to withdraw or move away from
whatever instrument is being employed.
Skeptics have put forth various explanations for the presence of the
fibers that plague sufferers of Morgellons disease. Some have suggested
that the fibers are merely clothing fibers, and other common everyday
material, that become attached to scabbed lesions accidentally; the
sufferers, skeptics claim, are falsely convinced that the fibers are
being produced by their bodies.
Other explanations are less kind; many ascribe to the idea that the
lesions themselves are a product of “neurotic excoriation,” a
psychological condition wherein the patient scratches the skin
compulsively to the point of creating wounds, or even that they are
created deliberately by the sufferer in an effort to convince others
that he is suffering from a disease. The fibers, these skeptics explain,
are then collected by the sufferer from non-bodily sources, as a means
of providing “evidence” that the disease condition exists. The
psychiatric community has long associated the collection of body
specimens with delusional parasitosis and other psychiatric or
fictitious conditions. In fact, the act of collecting these specimens
is, itself, considered a psychiatric symptom, referred to as “the
matchbox sign.” The name is a reference to the fact that fibers and
other material are often presented in small containers such as
matchboxes. As a result, the collected specimens are often disregarded
completely by healthcare providers, and a psychiatric cause is assumed
rather than a physical condition considered.
These arguments fall apart quickly, however, when the fibers — and
the patients — are actually examined. Morgellons fibers, when examined
closely, consistently appear as autoflourescent, meaning that they
exhibit a glow under ultraviolet light. Certain marine organisms, such
as particular types of jellyfish, also have autofluorescent properties.
One fluorescent protein, known as “green flourescent protein,” has been
studied extensively in recent years as a marker in the study of gene
expression; it has been successfully introduced into many bacteria and
fungi, as well as into fish, plant, insect, and even human cells.
Fluorescent markers, in the form of genetic modifications or dyes, are
also often used to track the presence of microbes in the environment.
Oil consuming microbes, for example, are often marked with the use of a
fluorescent stain for monitoring purposes.
A privately funded study conducted by Dr. Hildegarde Staninger,
Industrial Toxicologist & Doctor of Integrative Medicine, revealed
that the fibers are able to withstand temperatures of up to 1700 degrees
Fahrenheit [= 927º C] before burning, and that they do not melt. Her
results indicated that the fiber’s outer casing appears to consist of
high-density polyethylene fiber, an industrial material commonly used in
the production of fiber optic cables.
Interestingly, this material is also used in the emerging field of
bionanotechnology as a compound to encapsulate a viral protein envelope.
Furthermore, Staninger reported finding blue fibers that exhibited a
golden tip; she believes these to be a form of nano-machinery, able to
be programmed to perform specific functions.
- Susan Lindquist
If this sounds farfetched, consider the following information from a 2004 article in the
U.S. News and World Report:
Susan Lindquist, director of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s
Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, has managed to do just this
using a type of protein called a
prion. “She triggered a chain
reaction in which the yeast prions spin themselves into long, durable
fibers,” the article reports. “Lindquist then genetically engineered
these fibrous prions so they could bind to gold and silver
nanoparticles. As she reported last spring, the result was prion fibers
clad in precious metal—ultrafine conductive wires that could someday
shuttle electrons around nano-size circuits.”
Consider this information, as well, from the same article: “Last
August [2003], the U.S. Army announced a $50 million Institute for
Collaborative Biotechnologies, bringing together biotech and engineering
skills from leading universities and companies. And early last month,
President Bush signed the
21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which authorizes $3.7 billion over five years — a hefty chunk of which will go to bionanotechnology.”
Fort Detrick & Morgellons
Without doubt, the number of people suffering from Morgellons disease
is increasing worldwide. Some estimates range as high as 100,000
people. At the same time that reported cases are rising, reports
connecting the disease to various military research institutions and
installations are also increasing, as are reported instances of strange
developments with the disease. What is really going on with Morgellons
across the world?
For the past several years there have been consistent and credible
reports that the US Army’s biological warfare research facility at Fort
Detrick, Frederick, Maryland, has experimented with a lab-created
disease very similar to Morgellons.
Said one former Detrick microbiologist, who refused to allow his name
to be printed: “That I remember research on something similar — I don’t
recall what it was specifically called — began not long after the
Defense Appropriations for 1970…
it began around then…there were all kinds of things under study then.
It was hard to keep track of it all.” This remark about the
1970 Defense Appropriations
is significant in light that at about this same time the US Defense
Department made a startling budget request to the US Congress.
On July 1, 1969, a high-ranking Pentagon biological warfare official,
Dr. Donald MacArthur, appeared before the Defense Department
Appropriations Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Dr.
MacArthur told the assembled elected officials that “dramatic progress
being made in the field of molecular biology [by Army researchers at
Fort Detrick and elsewhere] led [the Army] to investigate the relevance
of this field of science to biological warfare.”
Said MacArthur, “A small group of experts considered this matter and provided the following observations:
(1) All biological agents up to the present time are representative
of naturally occurring disease, and thus known by scientists throughout
the world. They are easily available to qualified scientists for
research, either for offensive or defensive purposes;
(2) within the next 5 to 10 years; it would probably be possible to
make a new infective microorganism, which could differ, in certain
important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most
important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological
and therapeutic processes upon when we depend to maintain our relative
freedom from infectious disease.”
Dr. MacArthur’s testimony went on, and he informed the subcommittee
that a research program to explore the feasibility of developing such a
disease, “a synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally
exist and for which no natural immunity could be acquired,” would take
only about 5 years to complete, and would cost $10 million. Quite
understandably, since MacArthur made his memorable remarks, speculation
has been rampant about just exactly what disease he was talking about.
Some declassified Army reports from this same time are quite
interesting in that many documents make it readily apparent that some of
the Army’s most secret experiments with laboratory manipulated diseases
were conducted in those same states where Morgellons is reported to be
most prevalent: Texas, Florida, and California.
Dr. MacArthur informed Congress: “[Establishing new biological
weapons] is a highly controversial issue, and there are many who believe
such research should not be undertaken lest it lead to yet another
method of massive killing of large populations. On the other hand,
without sure scientific knowledge that such a weapon is possible, and an
understanding of the ways it could be done, there is little that can be
done to devise defensive measures. Should an enemy develop it there is
little doubt that this is an important area of potential military
technological inferiority in which there is no adequate research
program.”
Patients Warned Not to Talk
Since our last article was published here, a very disturbing number
of verified incidents involving Morgellons victims have been reported.
Many of these accounts concern infected people receiving warnings “not
to speak” with the media or to “keep your mouth shut about this
disease.” These warnings have come from people claiming to represent or
to work for “intelligence” or “law enforcement” agencies. Several of the
warned individuals had earlier reported seeing odd “fabric-like” and
“web-like” materials falling from the sky prior to their coming down
with the disease.
Caroline Carter, 50 years old, an alternative health therapist
practicing in Cyprus, Greece, contracted Morgellons disease in August
2007, after discovering her garden in England “covered in a very strange
web-like substance.” Looking further, she found the same substance
covering other nearby gardens and hedgerows. Within about a day all of
the foliage touched by the substance began wilting and dying.
Carter began collecting some of the web-like substance and felt a bit
on her left upper arm. She recalled, “It was a sharp nip but there was
not any visible mark.” Yet by the end of the day her arm was “really
aggravating me as no matter what I did I could not stop a persistent
itch that had begun shortly after the bite.” From that day forward the
itch never left Carter.
In 2008, Caroline Carter moved to Cyprus. About a year later, she
was diagnosed as having intestinal fungal overgrowth and a B12
deficiency. Carter’s rash also had worsened, despite concentrated
efforts at treatment. The rash produced severe burning and itching, and
continued to spread over her entire body. At the time, Carter did “not
consider that Morgellons was the cause of my pain as many lesions
appearing over my body were scabbing over.” While she knew about the
disease everything she had seen informed her that Morgellons lesions “do
not scab over or heal.”
After placing a piece of her skin under a microscope, however,
Carter knew the problem was Morgellons. “I felt sick to my stomach…sure
enough entangled through my skin sample were bright red, blue and black
fibers.” Continued Carter, “I took another skin sample and found the
very same fibers, this time I placed the skin sample in a solution of
H202 [hydrogen peroxide]. I left the sample to soak for 12 hours before
placing it back under the scope. The fibers had not lost their color.”
- http://www.morgellons-research.org/...
Over the next few weeks, Carter’s rash intensified and she was in
extreme pain. “My skin would form blisters that would burst then
reform,” she said, “it felt like broken glass and lit cigarettes were
attacking my skin from the inside.”
The ensuing weeks were sheer agony for Carter. She recounts, “The
only medication that helped was opiates, both oral and intravenous.”
Eventually, Carter says, “I decided to try frequency healing
[alternative healing based on electromagnetic waves] and I really
improved.” She says, “The change was immediate. On a Saturday I visited a
therapist who discovered that my left and right brain hemisphere had
switched, everything that should test positive ran negative and vice
versa. I was also emitting radiation from my thymus area for
approximately two meters. My thymus had felt permanently on fire and I
could feel small metal particles under the skin.”
Not long after Carter was able to resume her normal work routine she
assembled a thick packet of information on Morgellons disease,
including a CD containing photos and videos of fibers, some in the
process of actually moving about, that she passed on to a local elected
official, who she thought might help her in her now intensive
investigation of the disease. Since resuming her practice she had been
alarmed to find that some of her clients, including children, were also
experiencing health problems that appeared to be the results of
Morgellons disease.
About a week later, a man who said he was from the Cyprus
Intelligence Services contacted her. Carter says, “He told me that I
should stay away from politicians as they would not do anything with my
information, he said that there was something going on in Cyprus and
that they were aware of it. He wanted my help. He told me a scientist
has broken ranks and given information about a strange substance picked
up in the EU air filter checking system.”
The man asked Carter “to stay quiet about my findings for now as it
could cause problems.” Before he departed, the man told Carter that her
telephone and e-mail was being closely monitored.
Carter explains, “I think the problem is due to my having found out
just how many people have this problem as well as having grown one of
these fibers. It has to be ‘artificial life’ from the way it grew. I say
grew and not cultured because that is what it did. I placed a piece of
my skin, which I had kept since my breakout on a slide with a small drop
of H202 slightly diluted. Within 9 minutes a bacteria type of incubator
sprouted long fibers. It was like watching something out of the film
‘Alien.’”
Caroline Carter’s story is not unique. Since our first article on
Morgellons appeared, we have been contacted by nearly a dozen people,
all Morgellons patients, who, over the past seven years, have received
warnings from people who have identified themselves as either “federal
agents”, state law enforcement, or “Army intelligence officers.” One
woman in the mid-west says she was told, “If you know what’s good for
you and your family you wouldn’t talk to anyone about this.” All the
warned patients who contacted us are women who are fearful for their
well-being and that of their loved ones. Most of these women are too
frightened to want their names being used in this article.
Barb Metcalf, a Morgellons sufferer in Connecticut, who lives only 30
miles from the US Army’s top secret Plum Island research facility, felt
differently. Metcalf’s story is incredible, and is presented here in
her own words. Recounts Metcalf:
“It was December 8, 1998 a beautiful 72F winter day in Manchester,
Connecticut. The weather was most unusual, we had had snow and several
hard frosts, but this day was like a Spring day. I was outdoors at a
party, standing under a large oak tree. I felt something inside my
shirt; I never considered it to be a bug because nothing should have
survived the winter weather. When I removed my shirt that night, it was
very clear that I had been bitten at least 8 times on my back. There
was a leg left behind in the struggle, so I placed it in a bag for
identification. The next day, I had a major allergic attack with signs
of oncoming breathing difficulties. I went to the doctor who did
nothing more than a Lyme disease test, although there were no obvious
signs that it was a tick.
“I took the leg to an entomologist at University of Connecticut who
identified it as coming from an arthropod. By leg size, mouth size, he
determined that it was not a tick, but could not otherwise determine the
exact type of bug. Living in here is always reason enough to be
checked for insect bites, living so close and in the migratory bird path
of Old Lyme, Connecticut, just 12 miles from Plum Island, the world’s
depository of infectious diseases of all types. Old Lyme is just 42
miles from my home, and about 30 miles ’as the crow flies’ or any other
species of insect, birds, geese, etc. that take the migratory bird path
that literally goes over Plum Island.
“Three months to the day, I felt as though I was being bitten all
over again! I was screaming in horror and pain and could see nothing
attacking me. After careful examination, my husband could see crystals
sticking out of my back! He removed several of them with tweezers —
they were all alike: triangular in shape, with one side serrated the
other two rather straight, and all had either a black or red dot in the
center. Once the crystal was removed the pain ceased immediately. Along
with some of these crystals pieces of black material also was removed
to find later that they were actually pieces of an insect’s leg. This
cycle happened like clockwork every 3 months, leaving behind scars of
white pox-like marks, red striated lines, red dots, and tender skin.
“Visits to specialists of Infectious Disease, was the least helpful.
They would not look at the samples, nor listen to how I became ill.
Then, other symptoms became apparent. Abdominal bloating and severe
pain, upper right quadrant pain and swelling; difficulty swallowing,
headaches, muscle pain, no apparent lesions or other marks on my body
except for those lines and red dots. I was tested for Lyme disease, and
both tests were negative.
“Having been married to a microbiologist for the EPA and having
worked in the lab alongside my husband, studying what he studied, made
me wonder just what had attacked me and why. I got out my old
microscope and could see that there was more there than met the eye.
Insect pieces, pieces that looked like crystal, and when dissected,
appeared to be very interesting indeed. It was time I invested in
another piece of equipment and found a child’s toy - Digital Blue; a
digital microscope for about $100 solved the problem immediately. From
that day forward, I documented everything that I found unusual coming
from my body.
Cataloguing by date, location in the body where the specimen came
from, i.e. oral, nasal, head, other body parts, stool...I have compiled a
digital microscopy library of over 300,000 photographs in color and b
& w, including videos of microbes and various bacterial specimens
from my own body.
“Getting more ill as time went on, I literally begged my rheumatoid
specialist to help me find out what this disease was. I was tested and
the results were startling. From being a relatively healthy 54 year
old, active female business woman, to have positive test results for:
fibromyalgia, diabetes, chronic fatigue syndrome, IBS, and Rheumatoid
arthritis. All in just a few months’ time!
“When the bugs, worms and large strange specimens began coming from
my body, none of my doctors would have anything to do with me. They
shunned me in total disbelief! I was mortified to say the least that
someone they had trusted to be knowledgeable in the past 10 years had
suddenly told them of worms, insects, and God-know-what coming from her
body! I was told to see a psychiatrist, which shocked me to no end. I
was not crazy, nor was I delusional - you can’t photograph a delusion.
“I searched the internet endless hours for photographs of specimens
in all areas of medicine and veterinary medicine that looked like mine,
to no avail. The disease got worse. I could no longer sleep, the pain
increased to where I could no longer walk without a cane, and needed
assistance from my family to do simple, everyday chores around the house
and maintain my own body.
“Being of a medically scientific mindset, I just knew there had to be an
answer out there. But after several years of not finding anything
similar, I began to be more than frustrated. I called on several
scientific friends and associates for help and they too were stymied by
the change in my appearance, I had lost more than 50 pounds within 3
months...and did not sleep more than a couple hours a day. Without
sleep, the body cannot produce Serotonin, which it needs to repair and
maintain a healthy system.
“Then in 2005, I needed water to be replaced in my swimming pool. I
called for a delivery and asked where it was coming from - a local
reservoir. When I first went into the pool, I noticed hundreds of small
snails along the surface of the pool. I had never seen anything like
this in the previous years. Then the large slugs began to be seen in
the early morning hours...some as large as 4-5" long. Knowing better, I
still picked up hundreds of these snails in my hands to dispose of
them.
“In April 2006 I went to Florida to visit my son and his family only
to begin feeling ill just 3 days into the visit. I left earlier than
planned, and within one day of my return to CT I became extremely ill.
Vomiting, diarrhea (with obvious worm-like specimens which I saved for
future observance), and then within 2 days had a fever of 104F. I
collapsed and was admitted into the ICU at a local hospital. All manner
of specialists were called in, including infectious disease,
cardiology, immunology, pulmonary, and dermatology. With a raging fever
for 8 days, nothing was determined except that I was diagnosed with
bilateral pneumonia...of unknown origin. Upon discharge, the disease
worsened, especially the abdominal bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea
and vomiting. I brought samples of these worms to the specialists along
with other unidentifiable specimens that looked like undeveloped
insects, and they refused to even consider them, and threw them away.
They would ask me, "Can you part with them?" I was treated as though I
was some type of idiot, let loose on the street. I was incensed to say
the least!
“I took literally hundreds of preserved samples to a university
Microbiology Department in another state, where specialists - all PhDs
in various specialties: microbiology, parasitological, entomology,
biology, marine biology, virology. They selected an obvious egg
specimen that they all agreed was a Schistosoma mansoni egg and tested
it with stain. It did not respond in the normal manner. They did
another ... same results. They were surprised to say the least. When
the Department head asked why they thought this had happened, to a
person, the response was, "It’s genetically modified".
“’Genetically modified’ appears to be an understatement at this point
in time. This was not the first time that my interests were being
challenged. In September, 2008 I woke to check my pool to find
thousands of beige/khaki colored threads all over my deck and the roof
of my home. I couldn’t imagine where they had come from. I picked them
up in my hands and put them in a bag for disposal, then vacuumed the
area still wondering where they had come from. Curious, I put one under
the microscope only to be shocked again. These fibers were not normal
threads at all, but were twists and braided forms of fibers with many
types of organisms literally woven into the pattern. What shocked me
most was that some of these specimens I saw were the very same specimens
I had seen come out of my own body. I double-checked my photographs to
be certain I was not in error. I wasn’t. The next day, the same thing
happened again. I checked the neighborhood by walking the street to see
if there were more threads, but did not find any.
“A year later in September, 2009, the threads appeared again. Same
type of thread, same type of organisms entwined within the fibers. By
coincidence, just a few days later, I was lying on a raft in my pool,
looking up into the sky, and saw something floating down from the sky
where there were no trees. I jumped out of the pool and caught it
before it hit the ground! It was one of those same threads! No doubt
about it. I ran into the house and put it under the scope - and sure
enough even though it was a year later, this lone thread blew into my
yard, just like those before it, with what looked like the colored
threads of red, black, blue and white of what I became to know as
Morgellons Disease or the Fiber Disease!
“So, where had they come from? To this day, I have no idea, but they didn’t just fly in on their own.
“From about that same time, I was studying what I found to be called
Morgellons Disease from an ABC Special that showed these same fiber
masses that I had photographed! A friend called me and asked me why I
had given my material and photographs to ABC. I told her I hadn’t; she
said they are on TV right now! And, yes, those there looked like my
very own photos. I was overwhelmed to say the least. A whole new world
of investigation opened for me.
“I’ve contacted medical facilities all over the country looking for
help, to no avail, until I found an infectious disease facility in
Boston MA who finally took me on as a patient, after checking me for DOP
[Delusions of Parasitosis], and I submitted samples from my body
sometimes within 30 minutes! They had never seen anything like it. I
brought and sent in many digital photographs of the specimens from my
body, and none could be identified - even in this area of the country
known for its excellence in medicine and new technology. I asked about
Morgellons...they had not heard of it. However, I could match what
came out of my body with photographs published by others. I was finally
given medicine to help remove these parasites from my body, along with
extensive testing of my brain, abdomen, chest, lungs, etc. and blood.
No conclusive findings or diagnosis was found and no etiology of what
was in my body. They agreed to advise me if anyone else came to their
facility with my same symptoms in the future. I must have faith in what
they try to do...until I learn more.
“It is now 2 months since I took the medicine that was prescribed,
and I am still producing fungus gnats, flies, from my nasal cavities,
eggs and worms and various other strange specimens in my stool. My
abdomen is again bloating and in pain, and the vicious circle of this
debilitating disease goes on.
“Many strange incidents have happened since I contracted Morgellons
Disease; my computer has been broken/hacked into and only certain
information, including my book that I had been writing for more than 10
years, was removed. While discussing Morgellons with another Morgy, we
were both viewing the same site, when both our computers went black! We
were also on the phone at the time. He lives in another state and does
not have the same ISP; his computer came back on, mine did not. I took
my computer to experts to verify what had happened.
“I have no doubt that this disease has killed more people than we are
aware of; we are getting no support from anyone; we are researching
daily; many victims have lost their jobs, their homes, their families,
support from their friends and families, and most of all from the lack
of care from the medical community at large. They are all waiting for
what the CDC finds in their Kaiser Permanente Investigation that has
been a long time coming. In the meanwhile, people have been dying from
this disease or complications of this disease, or have committed suicide
because they no longer are able to fight the daily horrors and pain
this horrific disease does to mind and body.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (left) participated in and supported the ‘Istanbul Process.”
