Delusional parasitosis is a form of psychosis in which sufferers hold a delusional belief they are infested with parasites ^[1]. The Disease Bold textDatabase is a free website that provides information about the relationships between medical conditions, symptoms, and medications. ... eMedicine is an online clinical medical knowledge base that was founded in 1996. ... Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a loss of contact with reality. Stedmans Medical Dictionary defines psychosis as a severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration... A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ...

Delusional parasitosis is also referred to as Ekbom's Syndrome, named after a Swedish neurologist, Karl Axel Ekbom,^[2] who published seminal accounts of the disease in 1937 and 1938. It is not to be confused with Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome (restless legs syndrome). 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Year 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Wittmaack-Ekbom or restless legs syndrome is a disorder of the nervous system that affects sensation and movement in the legs and causes the limbs to feel uncomfortable. ...

Presentation

Details of delusional parasitosis vary among sufferers, but is most commonly described as involving perceived parasites crawling upon or burrowing into the skin, sometimes accompanied by an actual physical sensation (known as formication)^[1]. Individuals suffering from this condition may injure themselves in attempts to be rid of the "parasites", and sometimes are able to induce the condition in others through suggestion (a phenomenon dubbed folie à deux^[3]). Nearly any marking upon the skin, or small object or particle found on the person or their clothing, can be interpreted as evidence for the parasitic infestation, and sufferers commonly compulsively gather such "evidence" and then present it to medical professionals when seeking help^[1]. Formication is a tactile hallucination that insects or snakes are crawling over or under the skin. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Folie à deux (literally, a madness shared by two) is a rare psychiatric syndrome in which a symptom of psychosis (particularly a paranoid or delusional belief) is transmitted from one individual to another. ...

The condition is seen most commonly in women, and the frequency is much higher past the age of 40. There appear to be a great number of psychological and physiological factors which can contribute to the condition, the latter including such things as menopause, allergies, various drugs (including but not limited to abuse of cocaine and methamphetamine), certain medical conditions, and poor nutrition^[4]. It appears that many of these physiological factors, as well as environmental factors such as airborne irritants, are capable of inducing the "crawling" sensation in otherwise healthy individuals, but that some people become fixated on the sensation, and this fixation may then develop into delusional parasitosis^[4]. Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... This article is about the psychostimulant, d-methamphetamine. ...

Treatment

If due to stimulant abuse, the primary treatment is to cease the use of stimulants. The chronic condition is treated much as other delusional disorders and schizophrenia. In the past, pimozide was the drug of choice when selecting from the typical antipsychotics. Currently, atypical antipsychotics such as olanzapine or risperidone are used as first line treatment. However, it is also characteristic that sufferers will reject the diagnosis of delusional parasitosis by medical professionals, and very few are willing to be treated, despite demonstrable efficacy of treatment^[1]. Delusional disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental illness that involves holding one or more non-bizarre delusions in the absence of any other significant psychopathology (signs or symptoms of mental illness). ... Pimozide (sold as Orap®) is an antipsychotic drug. ... Typical antipsychotics (sometimes referred to as conventional antipsychotics or conventional neuroleptics) are a class of antipsychotic drugs first developed in the 1950s and used to treat psychosis (in particular, schizophrenia), and are generally being replaced by atypical antipsychotic drugs. ... The atypical antipsychotics (also known as second generation antipsychotics) are a class of prescription medications used to treat psychiatric conditions. ... Olanzapine (oh-LAN-za-peen, sold as Zyprexa®, Zyprexa Zydis®, or in combination with fluoxetine, as Symbyax®) was the third atypical antipsychotic to gain approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has become one of the most commonly used atypical antipsychotics. ... Risperdal tablets Risperidone (sold under the trade names Belivon, Rispen and Risperdal in the United States) is an atypical antipsychotic medication developed by Janssen Pharmaceutica. ...

Fictional accounts

• A fictional account of delusional parasitosis is given in the opening chapter of Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly, and is also in the opening scene of the movie with the same title.
• A character in the movie Oldboy suffers a one-time attack of delusional parasitosis.
• A secondary character in the movie Hellraiser II also suffers from severe chronical delusional parasitosis.
• The lead character in John Irving's The Fourth Hand reports formication on the stump of his amputated left hand.
• X-files season 3, episode "War of the Coprophages," a young man dies after what Dana Scully describes as "Ekbom's Syndrome."
• In the video game Indigo Prophecy, the main character, Lucas Kane, suffers multiple accounts of delusional parasitosis.
• In the Pink Floyd video "The Wall," the protagonist has a heroin overdose in the "Comfortably Numb" scene, and, after being injected with an antidote by paramedics, feels his flesh crawling with worms or snakes (a form of formication).
• The 2007 film Bug directed by William Friedkin (The Exorcist), is focused on people who have the symptoms of delusional parasitosis.
• In the comic series Sandman by Neil Gaiman, the character Delerium inflicts especially severe formication upon a police officer.

Philip Kindred Dick (December 16, 1928 – March 2, 1982) was an American writer, mostly known for his works of science fiction; additional to forty-four books currently in print, Dick wrote several short stories and minor works published in pulp magazines. ... A Scanner Darkly is a 1977 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. ... A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film by Richard Linklater based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name. ... Oldboy (Hangul:올드보이) is a 2003 South Korean film directed by Park Chan-wook based on a Japanese manga of the same name, written by Nobuaki Minegishi and Garon Tsuchiya. ... Official U.S. DVD cover Hellbound: Hellraiser II is a 1988 film directed by Tony Randel. ... Fahrenheit (Known as Indigo Prophecy in the US) is a videogame due for release in October 2005. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for their psychedelic rock music, and, as they evolved, for their avant-garde progressive rock music. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Heroin (INN: diacetylmorphine, BAN: diamorphine) is an opioid synthesized directly from the extracts of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum. ... Comfortably Numb is a song by the British (progressive) rock band Pink Floyd, which was released on the 1979 double-album The Wall. ... Bug is an American film released on the 25th May 2007[4] from Lionsgate. ... William Friedkin (born August 29, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American movie and television director, producer, and writer best known for directing The Exorcist and The French Connection in the early 1970s. ... The Exorcist is a horror novel written by William Peter Blatty first published in 1971. ... A statue of the sandman of Sandmännchen at Filmpark Babelsberg The Sandman is a character in popular Western folklore who brings good sleep and dreams by sprinkling magic sand onto the eyes of children. ... Neil Richard Gaiman () (born November 10, 1960) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, and comics. ...

See also

• Amphetamine psychosis
• Delusion
• Delusional disorder
• Morgellons
• Parasite
• Psychosis

Amphetamine psychosis is a form of psychosis which can result from amphetamine or methamphetamine use. ... A delusion is commonly defined as a fixed false belief and is used in everyday language to describe a belief that is either false, fanciful or derived from deception. ... Delusional disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis denoting a psychotic mental illness that involves holding one or more non-bizarre delusions in the absence of any other significant psychopathology (signs or symptoms of mental illness). ... Morgellons or Morgellons disease is a controversial medical condition, described as a multiple-symptom syndrome, characterized by skin lesions, a sensation that insects are crawling on or under the skin, reporting that fibers and granules are coming out of the skin, and fatigue. ... A parasite is an organism that spends a significant portion of its life in or on the living tissue of a host organism and which causes harm to the host without immediately killing it. ... Psychosis is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a loss of contact with reality. Stedmans Medical Dictionary defines psychosis as a severe mental disorder, with or without organic damage, characterized by derangement of personality and loss of contact with reality and causing deterioration...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Webb, J. P., Jr. 1993. Case histories of individuals with delusions of parasitosis in southern California and a proposed protocol for initiating effective medical assistance. Bulletin of the Society of Vector Ecologists 18(1):16-25.
2. ^ Ekbom's syndrome II at Who Named It
3. ^ Koblenzer, C. S. 1993. The clinical presentation, diagnosis and treatment of delusions of parasitosis--a dermatologic perspective. Bulletin of the Society of Vector Ecologists 18(1):6-10.
4. ^ ^{a b} http://www.ent.uga.edu/publications/delusory.pdf Hinkle, N. C. (2000) Delusory Parasitosis. American Entomologist 46(1): 17-25.

Who Named It is a Norwegian database of several thousand eponymous medical signs and the doctors associated with their identification. ...

External links

• Ekbom K, Yorston G, Miesch M, Pleasance S, Rubbert S (2003). "The pre-senile delusion of infestation.". Hist Psychiatry 14 (54 Pt 2): 229-56. PMID 14521159. 
• The Bohart Museum of Entomology; Human Skin Parasites & Delusional Parasitosis