Morgellons
/mɔːˈɡɛlənz
/(also Morgellons disease)
noun [mass noun]
A condition characterized by chronic itching or crawling sensations, attributed by sufferers to abnormal fibres (generally regarded by doctors as delusional) embedded in or extruded from the skin: people claiming to have Morgellons report a wide variety of symptoms...
- The CDC will form a task force to investigate Morgellons.
- I find 15-20 common abnormal findings and Morgellons is not reducible to one thing.
- In this setting of our core beliefs, the fact is many scientists and physicians are not worth reasoning with about Morgellons.
Origin
Early 21st century: revival of a 17th-century name for a disease of children marked by hairs or worms in the skin of the back, probably adapted from an Occitan word.