Collembola – A Major Role in Morgellons Despite the Disinformation

This subject is certainly not new to the Morgellons debate and indeed I have touched on this subject before. However, not the extent that this article is going to go into the evidence and support for the role of an active Collembola infection in Morgellon patients. If you think that you’ve read all there is to know on this subject you are about to be surprised. I believe this is one type of crawling the Morgellons sufferer feels and will talk later about a few very cheap ways to get rid of them (or at least make the crawling such that it isn’t overwhelming) and make your life so much better. This is a long post, but if you want to understand what is causing many of your symptoms I suggest that you stick with me on this. There are thousands of species of Collembola and they are extremely small in size and I read that they suspect some 30,000 species have yet to be identified.

First, let’s define what Collembola are for readers that might not know.

Collembola or springtails are the most numerous and the oldest known of all insects; they are found in the soil under leaf litter; they prefer damp conditions and some species are semiaquatic. About 2.000 species are classified. Springtails are wingless (Apterygota), brown to grey and measure about 5 mm.; they have antennae of different length, an abdomen with six segments and have a ventral tube probably involved in respiration, water absorption and locomotion. The name (springtails) refers to the characteristic method of locomotion leaping using the fourth organ, called Furca wich is doubled under the abdomen when at rest. They feed mainly on decomposing vegetal or animal material but they can feed on seeds, bulbs, roots, algae, fungi, insects or mites eggs. Some species have been observed in strict contact with humans causing persistent and not only occasional infestations.

In my first blog post titled “Does this identification mean anything? I do not know” I talk about Collembola and their possible relationship to Dr. Randy Wymore’s culturing Pseudomonas Putida directly off Morgellons fibers and the fact that Ps. Putida happens to be the favorite food of our Collembola friends. If you haven’t read my first blog post (linked above) I suggest you read it before continuing as it talks about a study in 2004 that discovered Collembola in a group of individuals previously diagnosed (if you can call it that) with delusory parasitosis. It also has some excellent pictures and links to Collembola not found in this post.

The Wikipedia War – Who will Control the Information

If you are familiar with Niels Mayer then you know the battle he has fought with those on Wikipedia regarding Morgellons disease, there is no doubt that a campaign is being run by a group of people to keep Morgellons listed as DOP on Wikipedia. Niels eventually setup Morgellons.Wiki where at least the grown ups are in charge.

If you look at the Wikipedia entry on Collembola you will notice that they attempt to totally discredit the 2004 NPA study. The National Pediculosis Association reported Collembola in skin scrapings collected from 18 of 20 research participants in its study published in the Journal of the New York Entomological Society. Here is the quote from Wikipedia attempting to discredit that study.

Claims of persistent human skin infection by springtails may indicate a neurological problem, or else delusory parasitosis, a psychological rather than entomological problem. Researchers themselves may be subject to psychological phenomena. For example, a publication in 2004 claiming that springtails had been found in skin samples was later determined to be a case of pareidolia; that is, no springtail specimens were actually recovered, but the researchers had digitally enhanced photos of sample debris to create images resembling small arthropod heads, which they then claimed to be springtail remnants.

There is a footnote on that comment but no real proof, in fact, I consider that comment nothing but disinformation probably by the same crew dogging the Morgellons wikipedia entry. Notice they make the claim these people really had pareidolia, here is the definition for that word.

The term pareidolia (pronounced /pærɪˈdoʊliə/) describes a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being perceived as significant. Common examples include seeing images of animals or faces in clouds, the man in the moon, and hearing hidden messages on records played in reverse. The word comes from the Greek para- —"beside", "with" or "alongside"- meaning, in this context, something faulty or wrong (as in paraphasia, disordered speech)—and eidolon—"image" (the diminutive of eidos—"image", "form", "shape"). Pareidolia is a type of apophenia.

So, it would appear that Wikipedia thinks these people have even something worse than DOP as far as crazy goes. Notice they even call the researchers basically crazy, that is an outright lie on their part. Where is the evidence to back up this claim that the researchers suffered pareidolia? Nonsense. What a hit piece, I wonder if the folks at NPA even know of this ridiculous claim.

Some Collembola experts disagreed with the NPA’s research findings, insisting that it was impossible for Collembola to live in human skin. Deborah Altschuler, lead author of the NPA paper, likens the scenario of Collembola and humans to the discovery of Helicobacter (H.) pylori otherwise hidden in the stomach lining, and the erroneous yet long held assumption that the stomach was a sterile environment and that peptic ulcers were caused by lifestyle choices. According to Kimball C. Atwood IV, MD., physicians scoffed when first faced with the notion of a bacterial basis for peptic ulcer disease. Altschuler asserts that there is more of a scientific basis for Collembola in humans than the entomologist and physician’s overwhelming acceptance of a psychiatric explanation (Delusions of Parasitosis) for people’s sensations of biting, stinging and crawling in their skin.  See this PAGE on the NPA Site for some very interesting information I didn’t include in my blog post, it’s well worth the read.

 

1955 – Collembola Infestation of Woman in Sweden

The NPA says even the experts appear to have missed this 1955 Swedish Medical Journal report in which the well-respected entomologist, anthropologist and author, Felix Bryk, refers to the incidence of Collembola in humans as a plague, making mention of colleagues who during that time had also found Collembola as parasites in humans. Bryk said the Springtail Sira, (today’s spelling Seira), was a human parasite being confirmed for the first time in Sweden. All this prompted him to write a report to the medical literature in which he stated:

The report can be found HERE and you should really take a moment to read it, it’s only a few pages long.

Until now, collembolans or “springtails” have played a miniscule role as parasitic insects on the human body from a entomological/medical standpoint. Rarely, if ever, are they mentioned in the scientific literature. However, the appearance of a previously unknown collembolan as an occasional parasite that for years caused depression in a patient and continues to do so – so far a unique case – has now rightly gotten the attention of scientists.

The female patient, a 60-year-old married housewife had been suffering for two years from a “nervous disorder.” She had consulted various physicians, including dermatologists. However, none were able to determine the cause of the medical problem, which manifested itself as a weak, although, annoying itching, and considered being of a nervous type. In the end, the patient herself managed to detect the culprit, which resided in the genitals and anus, organs that are difficult to access.

Initially, the patient believed that the creatures causing her discomfort were lice. They caused irritation, especially at night. They crawled out of their hiding-places. She vaguely felt how she was being "stung” by these creatures, leaving small red pricks on the skin of her torso all the way up to the arms. In specimens that were killed in hot water, she discovered a glassy, sharp process on the abdominal hind parts, whose “sting” she rightfully attributed to her “nervous condition.

I can certainly relate to the red pin pricks and the glass parts (glitter?) that so many of us see.

 

Collembola Infestation of an 80 year old Women

A clinical and paraclinical investigation on a 80-year-old woman who claimed a "beetles attack". A 80-year-old woman presented with pruritus (itching), insomnia, anxiety, paleness, weight loss (7 Kg in 6 months), and loss of appetite. In the lumbar region, on the buttocks, on the right posterior hemithorax and interdigitally on both feet she had small ulcers of 0.5-1 cm in diameter, surrounded by an indurated congestive or cyanotic, ovoid area of 1 x 1.5 cm.
Small scars, with furfuraceous, dry and gray exfoliation on round and linear zones of 20-25 x 4-5 cm., were observed in the submammalian region. Linear short subepidermic truncated trajects (tunnels) were also observed.
The microscopic examination of the hypodermic material obtained by scraping, revealed an adult Collembola spp. insect, eggs, cocoons of different colours, piles, a pupa, an exuvium and larvae.

The histological investigation revealed thickening and erosion of the epidermis, and isolated or confluent blood gaps. In the epidermis spaces were present binding up larvae and nymphs. The horny layer was hyperkeratotic and included the adult insect. The blood gaps were probably caused by the histophagy of the insect. Intraepidermic bullae covered by a thin corneous layer and ulcers were also observed.

Histological Findings in the case of the 80 year old woman
(Note that Collembola go through many stages, these are what they found in the woman)

 

Six egg piles (shown on the right) were observed into the epidermic material.  Four to 22 eggs were present in each pile, cemented together with a glue-like secretion.
The piles were elongated, round, with a small, cylindric, blunt and short appendix.

The piles measured 144-306 by 162-378 µm, while eggs (spherical to oval) were 35-140 by 35-123 µm (average 78 by 88 µm).

 

 

 

 

 

 Exuvium
The remains of an exoskeleton that is left after an arthropod (insect, crustacean or arachnid) has moulted.

The exuvium , the larval or nimphal cuticle, was translucide,
very thin, composed of four distinct zones: a globulous apical pole,
a narrow neck, a brown collar and a big, thin body of the exuvium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larvae were divided in three segments: (shown on the right)

a) an anterior, mobile, cylindric one with two subterminally mandibular pieces;
b) a middle ovoid segment covered by a rigid cuticle;
c) a caudal segment, frayed, with three terminal sharp apexes
for the fixation to the substrate.

 

 

 

Pupa Stage

The pupa was brownish, oval, measuring 2,280 mm by 720 µm.

 

 

 

 

 

Adult Stage

Taken from the 80 year old woman

 

 

 

 

This certainly would go a long way in describing all of the debris found in our bodies. All of the information regarding the 80 year old woman can be found HERE and you can click on the photos there for even larger images.

 

Brief Summary Thus Far

 

So, we have The National Pediculosis Association (NPA) study identifiying Collembola in 18 of 20 persons previously diagnosed as DOP (otherwise called crazy) including photographs of the Collembola, many professional researchers were involved in this study. If you take the time to look at the study you can see the difficulty involved in finding these little pests. We also have the cases in 1955 in Sweden with many folks being infected by Collembola and the case of the 80 year old woman as well. I suspect these cases are but the tip of the iceberg and these particular sufferers were lucky enough to be able to contact somebody that actually took the time to “look into things”. In other words, they found caring doctors with open minds, an extreme rarity indeed.

Meanwhile, Wikipedia makes the claim the 2004 Study was basically a farce. I know who I believe and it isn’t those controlling the information on Wikipedia. But let’s continue …

 

Taking a bath

When I first came down with Morgellons I would take lots of baths and use different things like sea salt and stuff. I would notice this things moving which floated on the water. But the things were so small you couldn’t see them, you only knew they were there by the tiny ripples around them, in fact, you had to be at a 45 degree angle to really notice them but they were definitely alive and moving. In fact, I was corresponding with a woman on the yahoo finding1cure group just the other day who can flake them off her skin into water and see them exactly as I have described above, only she thinks they’re mites, my strong bet would be that they are Collembola and not mites.  Since I still have light crawling I am going to do this experiment capture some of them and put them under the scope and will report my findings at a later time.

 

Eliminating Collembola (or cutting their numbers way down)

My crawling is basically a low boil now, not very noticeable most of the time. The first time I ever got rid of the crawling and realized there was at least a topical aspect to Morgellons was using the ESP Botanicals system. The Green Balm I would use and cover my body head to toe and after a matter of weeks the crawling was nearly gone. My mistake was not sticking with it as once I got feeling better and ran out I stopped. But I was so sick back then I wasn’t thinking clearly. I now have the complete New Hope Two Product line.

 

Also, Sulfur kills mites and I believe it kills Collembola as well. I learned about Azufre – Sulfur with Lanolin Bar (10% Sulfur) and still use it regularly. If you use this first try it on a small part of your body to make sure it’s not too strong for you, I have no issues with it at all. I use it in the shower, get wet, soap myself up, turn the water off and stand there for 3 or 4 minutes and then rinse.  And for $1.95 a bar you can’t go wrong. It comes from Mexico and really, really works.

 

 

 

Finally, wash your clothes only in Dr. Bonners Peppermint Soap I cannot tell you how well this works. It has a strong mint smell to it and mint also kills mites, or anthropods such as Collembola. I have made this recommendation to people that have washed their bed sheets and told me that very night was there best nights sleep in years, it works. Some people use it in the bath but it must be diluted massively, such as only 1/2 cup. I recommend just washing your clothes in it. You can find Dr. Bonners at Whole Food stores and GNC stores.

 

I make no money off any of these products, nor do I from any products whatsoever.

 

Summary

I believe Collembola infestation is a major player in Morgellons disease despite the naysayers and those that have already become numbed to the subject. The evidence of infestation has been proven beyond a doubt in my mind.  And as was stated in the NPA article linked above:

Altschuler asserts that there is more of a scientific basis for Collembola in humans than the entomologist and physician’s overwhelming acceptance of a psychiatric explanation (Delusions of Parasitosis) for people’s sensations of biting, stinging and crawling in their skin.

And finally, I would like to share with you the “other symptoms” the 18 individuals found to have Collembola infections suffered from. Here they are …

These individuals experience itching, stinging/biting, and crawling sensations on or under their skin, which are often associated with excoriations, discoloration, scaling, tunneling or sores. Their conviction that they are infested is reinforced by their observation of particles described as sparkly, crusty, crystal-like, white or black specks and/or fibers. Typically, these individuals have consulted extensively with general physicians, dermatologists, and entomologists (Kushon et al., 1993) who could not find physical cause for their complaints. Despite findings ruling out lice, scabies or other medical causes, patients refuse to accept the diagnosis of delusory parasitosis.

These people basically have Morgellons, only it wasn’t widely known in 2004. I would also bet most of the folks on the bird mite forums have Morgellons and not bird mites. Bird mites are easily spotted with the naked eye, I had them get on me at my initial onset and actually captured two of them.

This blog post is probably long enough at this point. One thing I have not covered is why we are infected with Collembola (why has this infection become so much more widespread all of a sudden). Also, I am BY NO MEANS SAYING Morgellons is merely a Collembola infection. They are in us for a reason (something came first) and they bring with them an interesting component to the mix. These issues will be covered in my Grand Unification Theory which is still forthcoming. I know this topic will bring some debate and that’s just fine. One wonders why there would be such deception on the part of Wikipedia, perhaps their fear is the world finding out why all of sudden we’ve become their dinner, and by the hundreds of thousands, probably millions worldwide.

I beleive the water technique can be used to identify a Collembola infection quite easily and will report my findings in short order.  You might take a moment to watch this News Report VIDEO of families who believe they are infested with Collembola.