Words
The vocabulary aimed at your chart.
None of these words are insults by themselves. They become weapons when they replace looking.
- Formication
- The sensation of insects crawling on or under the skin. A description of a feeling, not a verdict about cause.
- Filament / fiber
- Thread-like material people see in lesions or on skin. Proposed identities include cotton lint, keratin, collagen, hair, and mixed debris. Color reports include white, black, red, and blue.
- Delusional infestation (DI)
- A psychiatric diagnosis: a fixed belief of infestation despite contrary medical exam. Also called delusional parasitosis. Many clinicians apply it to Morgellons; many patients experience that label as a door closing.
- Unexplained dermopathy
- The phrase the 2012 CDC-sponsored paper used instead of endorsing either “new disease” or “delusion” as a final word.
- Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF)
- Patient-founded nonprofit, 2002–2012, started by Mary Leitao. Closed after the CDC paper; remaining funds went to Oklahoma State University.
- Borrelia
- Spirochete bacteria; some species cause Lyme disease. Repeatedly proposed, not universally accepted, as a driver of Morgellons skin findings.
- Case definition
- A checklist used so researchers are talking about the same people. MRF had one. CDC/Kaiser used another: self-reported material emerging from skin plus lesions and/or disturbing sensations.
- Nocebo
- Harm from expecting harm. Sometimes used to wave this illness away. Expectation can worsen itch. It does not invent open sores by itself.