Segment 2: mysterious
parasite striking bay area residents
KTVU—FOX
San Francisco, CA
by John Fowler
30 Apr 2004
To hear this story,
go to KTVU’s website: http://www.ktvu.com/video/2888865/detail.htm
Leslie Grfffith:
Tonight’s Segment 2 is about a strange health disorder that some experts
say has fooled modern medicine. It involves an itch that won’t go away.
And now at least there might be an explanation. KTVU’s Health and Science
Editor John Fowler has the story in tonight’s Segment 2.
John Fowler:
Thirty-seven year old Kim Vincent of San Lorenzo says it’s been a three-year
nightmare for her and her family.
Kim Vincent:
“I want help, I need help, everywhere I turn, I’ve been turned
away, and not only turned away. Not only do they just say you know I can’t
help you, but they say, and you’re crazy too.”
John Fowler:
She says in lesions on her face and elsewhere on her body, strange filaments
and cocoon-like fuzz appear, along with a stinging and a skin movement she
says is frightening, especially since her five year old daughter and her
three other children also seem to have it, and no medicine has worked.
Kim Vincent:
“It’s sickening, it is horrible. It’s a daily fight, it’s
a daily, um, worry, bother. I mean just to think that you know I’ve
always thought of myself as a clean, normal person. And I can’t get
rid of them, nobody believes me.”
Eric Krass:
“It’s just really hard to kind of convince people, ’cause
it is unrealistic sounding kind of disease.”
John Fowler:
In the same neighborhood, 26 year old Eric Krass told us after working on
his car and scratching his back on his driveway a couple of years ago, he
came down with a weird skin infection.
Eric Krass:
“I was seeing too many strange things, like actually seeing little
creatures surface on my skin, like slowly.”
John Fowler:
He says he went to several doctors.
Eric Krass:
“They just kind of dismissed it off as some kind of random infection
or stress-related or psychosomatic illness, like saying, ‘oh you’re
just imagining those things under your skin’.”
Margaret Mure:
“There was a crawling sensation on my face and it’s usually because
something’s coming out from underneath my skin, and what I was seeing
coming out of my skin matched exactly what all these other pictures were,
so I don’t think we are all having this mass delusion.”
John Fowler:
But Mure, a San Francisco interior designer says her doctors told her, her
problem was all in her head.
Margaret Mure:
“The OP’s diagnosis, which is delusional parasitosis, I was quite
sure that I wasn’t delusional.”
John Fowler:
We’ve learned of controversial new research pointing to a physical
cause of the unexplained skin parasite, there maybe a link to the Bay Area
environment, and many people likely have some exposure. The San Francisco
region is one of several so-called hotspots for unexplained skin parasites,
most diagnosed as delusions. Researchers say geography seems to be a major
clue. Because so many cases turn up around coastal marsh lands, there’s
some speculation this may be a previously-unknown ocean parasite, and doctors
say many people with this also test positive for Lyme disease.
Dr. Ray Stricker:
“This is just one other bizarre type of symptom that you might associate
with, you know, with Lyme symptoms.”
John Fowler: Dr.
Stricker says some of his patients have unexplained skin parasites. Former
NASA physician and Houston epidemiologist William Harvey has documented more
than five hundred cases. He says 94% of those tested have Lyme disease.
William Harvey:
“I think we are looking at a very big, a major problem that’s
being unrecognized in humanity right now.”
John Fowler:
He says Lyme bacteria may infect millions of Americans, and in some it damages
their skin’s immune system in a specific way, letting odd parasites
take hold.
William Harvey:
“The lab tests that we do are predictably showing certain immune damage,
and it’s consistent from patient to patient to patient to patient.”
John Fowler:
Dr. Harvey says one parasite filament is confirmed as the infectious yeast
Candida Tropicalus. Others seem to be algae or mold, all common in
moist areas. The Vincent family and Eric Krass live within a few hundred
yards of this bay marsh. They say their symptoms began shortly after construction
crews dug up the earth here. Doctors say it’s possible parasitic micro-organisms
stirred up into the air.
Eric Krass:
“It’s obvious that there is something under my skin that affects
my skin.”
John Fowler:
Margaret Mure says she’s being treated for Lyme disease.
Margaret Mure:
“It’s still obvious I have lesions, but they’re not nearly
as bad since I’ve been on treatment for Lyme so, um, I think there
is hope that this is treatable.”
John Fowler:
Doctors treat Lyme with long term and expensive antibiotics. Insurance and
most doctors do not recognize this skin parasite disorder.
Dr. Ray Stricker:
“That’s certainly the message isn’t it. There is always something
that we don’t understand and we’re constantly coming up with new
things that we don’t really understand yet.”
John Fowler:
Kim Vincent says understanding has been too long coming.
Kim Vincent:
“I’ve always been a pretty healthy person and active, and the
more I go on with this, the less active I am, and I don’t feel well
a lot of the time.”
John Fowler:
Lyme disease ticks are common around the Bay Area. Experts warn you should
carefully examine you skin anytime you’ve been outside.
Health and Science
Editor John Fowler, KTVU Channel 2 News
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