Wikipedia
Morgellons (/mɔːˈdʒɛlənz/), also called Morgellons disease or Morgellons syndrome, is the informal name of a self-diagnosed skin condition that is actually a form of delusional disorder in which individuals believe they are infested with inanimate material like sand, hairs, thread, or fibers, while in reality no such infestation is present.
People who claim the condition experience tactile hallucinations, such as crawling, biting, and stinging sensations and visual hallucinations or illusions of unusual fibers coming out of the skin. They usually report persistent skin lesions (i.e., rashes or sores) that are unknowingly self-inflicted. These symptoms have been identified as consistent with delusional infestation (DI) by a range of medical experts including dermatologists, entomologists, and psychiatrists. Some cases of self-identified Morgellons may be more accurately diagnosed as a common skin disorder. Individuals who claim this condition commonly collect specimen samples of what they believe to be the pathogens and bring them in a small container or show pictures and videos of them to doctors as "proof" of their illness.
The name was coined in 2002 by the founder of the Morgellons Research Foundation, Mary Leitao, who revived it from a letter written by a physician in the mid-1600s. Leitao and others involved in her foundation who self-identified as having Morgellons successfully lobbied members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to investigate the condition in 2006. CDC researchers issued the results of their multi-year study in January 2012, indicating that there were no disease organisms present in people with Morgellons and that the fibers found were likely cotton, and concluded that the condition was "similar to more commonly recognized conditions such as delusional infestation".