FILAMENT FORMATION ASSOCIATED WITH SPIROCHETAL INFECTION: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH TO MORGELLONS DISEASE
Marianne J Middelveen and Raphael B Stricker
Abstract
Bovine digital dermatitis is an emerging infectious disease that causes lameness, decreased milk production, and weight loss in livestock. Proliferative stages of bovine digital dermatitis demonstrate keratin filament formation in skin above the hooves in affected animals. The multifactorial etiology of digital dermatitis is not well understood, but spirochetes and other coinfecting microorganisms have been implicated in the pathogenesis of this veterinary illness. Morgellons disease is an emerging human dermopathy characterized by the presence of filamentous fibers of undetermined composition, both in lesions and subdermally. While the etiology of Morgellons disease is unknown, there is serological and clinical evidence linking this phenomenon to Lyme borreliosis and coinfecting tick-borne agents. Although the microscopy of Morgellons filaments has been described in the medical literature, the structure and pathogenesis of these fibers is poorly understood. In contrast, most microscopy of digital dermatitis has focused on associated pathogens and histology rather than the morphology of late-stage filamentous fibers. Clinical, laboratory, and microscopic characteristics of these two diseases are compared.
Keywords: Digital dermatitis, Morgellons disease, Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, spirochetes
Introduction
First described in 1974, bovine digital dermatitis (BDD), also known as papillomatous digital dermatitis, is an emerging infectious disease that causes lameness, decreased milk production, and weight loss in cattle.1,2 Since 1993, BDD has spread rapidly throughout the US, Europe, and Australia, becoming a significant cause of morbidity in dairy operations.3–5 The disease causes dermatitis and papillomatous lesions of the skin bordering the coronary band in the hooves of livestock, primarily cattle (Figure 1).3–5
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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3257881/