Chaz, the following letter was used by many (but I have no idea HOW many) and was posted at Elliot's Disease Research Library on May 4, 2002.

Dear _______________

I am writing to inform you of an emerging health problem and to ask for your assistance.

Over the past several decades and more recently since 1995-1996, increasing numbers of people across the globe have become afflicted with an unknown disease that has been named "Elliot's Disease." While this is becoming a global disease, it appears to now be concentrated across the United States with elevated incidence in several "sunbelt" states (California, Arizona, Texas and Florida), although certainly not limited to these four states, and becoming more prevalent throughout the United States and the globe.

Many health authorities, including the CDC, personal doctors, state epidemiologists and others with credentials that ought to allow their expertise to shed some light on this disease have been contacted and asked to assist. The National Pediculosis Association in Newton, Massachusetts has spent countless hours and dollars collecting reports and researching this disease. All 50 United States are represented in the epidemiology statistics that the NPA is maintaining.

The most imposing problem facing those with this disease is lack of a diagnosis, or a misdiagnosis at best. No suitable course of treatment can be found without a definitive diagnosis. In many cases medical doctors are performing perfunctory examinations (standing five feet or more away from the patient) without determining the cause of the suffering and then prescribing medications (often those used for lice or scabies) that are not resolving the illness and not allowing the patient to heal. In the worst of cases, the patients are made to feel mentally ill and diagnosed as delusional parasitosis victims. The disease referred to as Elliot's Disease and delusional parasitosis share a great deal in common, in terms of symptoms and artifacts. However there cannot be such a widespread folie-a-deux to account for the thousands of individuals who are ill now and those innumerable who may become ill in the future.

In 1934, an entomologist named Jay Traver became ill and later received a diagnosis of delusional parasitosis. She proceeded to try to find the cause of her suffering, eventually publishing a paper in 1951 in the Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington outlining a particular mite infesting her skin. This is not to suggest that this particular mite is the causative agent of Elliot's Disease, just a reminder that diagnoses can be initially incorrect yet amended as more information is available and more research is conducted. Yet, Elliot's Disease is not yet medically acknowledged and therefore strenuous and concerted efforts are not being made to identify the pathogens and provide relief to sufferers.

In 1995, a woman from Shanghai, China sharing several symptoms of Elliot's Disease was able to determine two foreign bodies in the bloodstream through dark-field microscopy at a resolution of 10,000X; one appears to be a helminth and the other appears to be a light reflective pathogen. Through the assistance of Prof. Chang Zhengshan at the Shanghai Parasite Research Institute, these pathogens were found in at least 10 Shanghai patients and not found in a control group. It may be that if those suffering from Elliot's Disease can duplicate these findings, the pathogens may be more readily identified.

Multiple message boards have cropped up on the Internet offering support to those suffering from this illness. Many individuals are self-medicating, with veterinary drugs, drugs obtained from other countries, or worse, with pesticides or other dangerous chemicals. The desperation is overwhelming and particularly tragic since there is a feeling among those suffering that the illness may be contagious. Normal life is brought to a complete halt while the sufferer attempts to determine what is causing their illness. Marriages, children, careers, financial stability and personal possessions are threatened and in some cases lost altogether.

Symptoms of this disease include any and all of the following located anywhere on the body, often including the scalp, face, ears, eyes, mouth and nose:

Skin rashes, lesions and sores; track marks, burrows and papules on the skin; sensation of stinging, biting, and burning on the skin; sensation of movement on or under the skin; pruritis; granules, glitter-like or iridescent particles, black specks in lesions or on the skin; fibers and fiber balls of various colors in lesions or on the skin; unidentified clear filaments in lesions; hair loss; muscle cramps and spasms; arthritic-like pain in bones and joints; elevated eosinophil counts; abnormal basophil, neutrophil, alkaline phosphatase, lymphocytes and monocytes counts; elevated white blood count. In some cases the infestation appears to be extended to the home environment, particularly textiles. Some sufferers have tested positive for mycoplasma fermentans (incognitus).

The most common and identifying aspects of this disease are the incidence of fibers and unidentified filaments in or on the skin.

At this time, there appears to be no public acknowledgment of this disease and no public efforts to determine the cause and the cure. You may be wondering, "How can I help?" This letter is being written to you because of your position in the government, public health arena, public advocacy arena, or media. You have the power to insist that socially responsible action be taken. You may even have the ability to take action yourself, today, and organize research or inquiries into this disease. Until this disease is acknowledged and research is underway to provide practical treatment, the sufferers will continue to suffer in silence without assistance from the medical profession who have to-date been unable to diagnose and treat this disease. This is not a problem of the United States or those who are ill around the world, but of all human kind and our posterity.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.