Post by alankey on Dec 29, 2008 2:33:06 GMT -5
since i have been banned from morgellons sanctum for merely saying that morgellons is nanotech which is to advanced to be of the present(there excuse was its a theory and "theories arnt allowed,clearly a disinfo website),ile post an article i saw there here.
www.newscientist.com/article/dn16....-mysteries.html
10:20 16 December 2008 by Alison George
In this week's issue of New Scientist I edited a profile of a doctor who is the real-life version of TV's House MD. William Gahl recently set up the Undiagnosed Diseases Program to hunt for the answer to mysterious diseases that have defied all other medical experts (read the interview).
This got me thinking about ailments that have perplexed the medical profession. Here is a selection of the most unusual.
Morgellons disease
The symptoms: fibres growing out of itchy lesions, accompanied by a biting, crawling sensation, as if the sufferer is being attacked by a parasite.
Thousands of people around the world report these unpleasant symptoms and claim that they're suffering from Morgellons disease - a physical ailment whose cause is, as yet, unknown.
But present these symptoms to most doctors, and they'll tell you you're suffering from a well-known psychological disorder called delusional parasitosis - an unshakeable belief that sensations of crawling on or under the skin are caused by parasites, despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
Who is right? The jury is still out, but some medics are beginning to take a serious look at Morgellons. One suggestion is that the fibres could be the result of an infection by the bacterium Agrobacterium, most commonly found to cause tumours in plants.
Other diseases featured in article include:
Chimeric people
Imagine going for genetic tests along with your children, only to find that you can't possibly be their biological mother - despite the fact that you gave birth to them.
This isn't science fiction. It has actually happened to a few people around the world (see The stranger within).
In the case, it turned out that the mother was a chimera (a mix of two individuals). She was the composite of two non-identical twins that had fused in her mother's womb.
No-one knows how common chimeras are, but with the rise of fertility treatments and genetic testing, more chimeras are likely to be created and discovered.
Foreign accent syndrome
If you wake up talking with a strong Jamaican accent, despite the fact that you've never even heard a Jamaican accent before, then the chances are you're suffering from foreign accent syndrome.
The best known case of this syndrome dates from 1941, when a Norwegian woman was ostracised after she was injured during an air raid and began talking with a strong German accent.
This syndrome was once regarded as a psychological disorder, but it's now thought to be a neurological one, which comes about when a stroke or injury damages the part of the brain associated with speech.
The real mystery is how people talk with an accent they've never been exposed to - though recently scientists have come up with a possible explanation. The "foreign-ness" of a sufferer's accent might simply be due to the listener struggling to interpret the change in the sufferer's speech patterns.
Water allergy
The madness of King George
Putrid finger
Tree man
There is a place to comment at the bottom and read other comments.
www.newscientist.com/article/dn16....-mysteries.html
10:20 16 December 2008 by Alison George
In this week's issue of New Scientist I edited a profile of a doctor who is the real-life version of TV's House MD. William Gahl recently set up the Undiagnosed Diseases Program to hunt for the answer to mysterious diseases that have defied all other medical experts (read the interview).
This got me thinking about ailments that have perplexed the medical profession. Here is a selection of the most unusual.
Morgellons disease
The symptoms: fibres growing out of itchy lesions, accompanied by a biting, crawling sensation, as if the sufferer is being attacked by a parasite.
Thousands of people around the world report these unpleasant symptoms and claim that they're suffering from Morgellons disease - a physical ailment whose cause is, as yet, unknown.
But present these symptoms to most doctors, and they'll tell you you're suffering from a well-known psychological disorder called delusional parasitosis - an unshakeable belief that sensations of crawling on or under the skin are caused by parasites, despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary.
Who is right? The jury is still out, but some medics are beginning to take a serious look at Morgellons. One suggestion is that the fibres could be the result of an infection by the bacterium Agrobacterium, most commonly found to cause tumours in plants.
Other diseases featured in article include:
Chimeric people
Imagine going for genetic tests along with your children, only to find that you can't possibly be their biological mother - despite the fact that you gave birth to them.
This isn't science fiction. It has actually happened to a few people around the world (see The stranger within).
In the case, it turned out that the mother was a chimera (a mix of two individuals). She was the composite of two non-identical twins that had fused in her mother's womb.
No-one knows how common chimeras are, but with the rise of fertility treatments and genetic testing, more chimeras are likely to be created and discovered.
Foreign accent syndrome
If you wake up talking with a strong Jamaican accent, despite the fact that you've never even heard a Jamaican accent before, then the chances are you're suffering from foreign accent syndrome.
The best known case of this syndrome dates from 1941, when a Norwegian woman was ostracised after she was injured during an air raid and began talking with a strong German accent.
This syndrome was once regarded as a psychological disorder, but it's now thought to be a neurological one, which comes about when a stroke or injury damages the part of the brain associated with speech.
The real mystery is how people talk with an accent they've never been exposed to - though recently scientists have come up with a possible explanation. The "foreign-ness" of a sufferer's accent might simply be due to the listener struggling to interpret the change in the sufferer's speech patterns.
Water allergy
The madness of King George
Putrid finger
Tree man
There is a place to comment at the bottom and read other comments.