CDC Chooses Kaiser Permanente to Investigate Unexplained Skin Condition (Morgellons)

CDC Chooses Kaiser Permanente to Investigate Unexplained Skin Condition (Morgellons)

xnet.kp.org

Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., will conduct the study. The CDC will identify patients in Kaiser Permanente's Northern California region for the study. Northern California has a concentration of self-reported cases of Unexplained Demopathy, according to the CDC. Kaiser Permanente's significant presence in Northern California will help researchers systematically identify patients who may have this unexplained illness, which some have referred to as Morgellons.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Mysterious skin diease (Morgellons) to be studied by CDC
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[edit on 16-1-2008 by Icarus Rising]

This condition is finally getting the attention it deserves. I would hate to be suffering from something like this and have doctors tell me it is all in my mind.

But having Kaiser do the study? Are they renowned for their knowledge and expertise in dermatology? Do they have a world class team ready to tackle the investigation? Excuse me for doubting they are the most qualified and best able to mount this investigation, but they aren't known for providing the best care to their patients, and the CDC is only providing them with $338K for the study. No offense to any Kaiser members on the boards, but I would expect Johns Hopkins or Tulane or some prominent medical research facility to get the job.

This condition sounds really nasty. The story on my homepage descibes the symptoms like this:

It sounds like a freakish ailment from a horror movie: Sores erupt on your skin, mysterious threads pop out of them, and you feel like tiny bugs are crawling all over you. Morgellons sufferers describe symptoms that include erupting sores, fatigue, the sensation of bugs crawling over them and _ perhaps worst of all _ mysterious red, blue or black fibers that sprout from their skin. They've documented their suffering on Web sites. (like ATS)

Some doctors believe the condition is a form of delusional parasitosis, a psychosis in which people believe they are infected with parasites.

I hope they can get to the bottom of the cause and come up with a treatment, or better yet, a cure.

xnet.kp.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Kaiser has a pretty well developed research organization.

Now had you mentioned premier West Coast medical research facilites I would have been much more impressed like Stanford, UCSF etc.

That being said, they are one fo the biggest HMO's in the state and perhaps they have direct access to many of the patients and have already gained experience in treating them.

Wow, they are finally gonna do a study?

The study will take more than a year, but at least they're finally doing a study.

Here is their official reason for selecting Kaiser Permanente:

Why did CDC select Kaiser Permanente Northern California as the partner for the investigation?

This condition is thought to be rare; therefore, CDC sought a location and an organization that would likely have an adequate number of affected persons to be able to conduct a careful investigation. There are several factors that led CDC to select Kaiser Permanente Northern California as the partner in this investigation. First, Kaiser Permanente Northern California is located in a geographic area where self-reported cases of this condition are concentrated. Second, Kaiser Permanente has a membership that comprises a large proportion of the population in the Northern California area, thereby allowing estimation of rates of the condition in the population. Third, Kaiser Permanente has electronic health records that will allow a systematic method of identifying persons who may have this condition.

I don't know anything about them, but heres a list of their research specialists, and a list of their current studies, and in case someone is interested, it looks like they're doing a lot of hiring.

[edit on 1/16/08 by makeitso]

Now had you mentioned premier West Coast medical research facilites I would have been much more impressed like Stanford, UCSF etc.

You are absolutely right. My bad. I'm just not familiar with the specialties of those universities. I should have known better.

The reason I mentioned Tulane is I was looking into Schistosomiasis a while back and they had an extensive investigation posted regarding it. Located in the swampy South, too. Johns Hopkins was just the first medical research facility that came to mind.

At any rate, I would like to see the results of the study done by Kaiser when they become available.

The story on my home page went on to say that

The study will be done in northern California, the source of many of the reports of Morgellons (pronounced mor-GELL-uns).

I was unaware that NoCal was an area where a lot of cases were reported. Why do you think this would be so? What is it about NoCal that produces so many reports of the condition?