Billy Koch

[Franky]

Former Oakland A's pitcher Billy Koch has it. And so do his wife and their three children. And though they can afford top medical care, doctors have no answers.

It started in Oakland four years ago. Koch saved 44 games and was the top reliever in the major leagues. His fastball wowed crowds. And then the strangeness began.

"He freaked out. He wanted to ignore it … I wanted to too. But when it comes to your kids, you gotta stop ignoring it," said Koch's wife Brandi.

She describes their symptoms: "It was the scariest thing I had ever realized in my entire life. There was matter and black specks coming out and off of my skin."

Within two years -- at age 29 -- Billy Koch was out of baseball, partly because of the uncontrollable muscle twitching that went on for months at a time and often kept up him up all night.

The morgellons disease is characterized by slow healing skin lesions that often extrude small, dark filaments, especially after bathing. "The fibers look like hair, and they're different colors," Koch says.

"That's when it would really just ooze -- literally ooze out of my skin," explained Brandi Koch.

The couple was at wit's end after numerous doctors not only provided little in the way of relief, but actually were skeptical about their health problems: "There's no reasonable explanation for it. I'm not seeing things. l'm watching it happen. We're pretty sane people…" lamented Billy.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. Neelam Uppal sympathized with the Kochs' plight: "They've seen several doctors, [and] everybody's told them they're crazy. It's in their head. They're delusional."

Dr. Uppal gave the Kochs and fifteen other patients a powerful anti-parasite medicine and antibiotics that helped temporarily. But the filaments come back.

Testing of the filaments brought no results, according to Dr. Uppal: "I've seen [it]; sent it to the lab. They can't identify it. They'll say 'They're nothing.'"

The reaction of medical professionals has made a difficult situation even harder for Brandi Koch: "It's not enough that you're suffering and hurting. It's 'You're an idiot!' and 'You're crazy!' on top of it. I'm really hurt and sad and scared."

The Kochs may be the most recognizable of more than 3,000 families nationwide reporting these same unexplained symptoms. There are curious clusters, in Florida, along the Gulf Coast and in the San Francisco Bay Area. That's where we begin our investigation into new clues to this medical mystery.

[ladycolorado]

there are times i wonder........how many will it take to get ill to get the proper attentionfor this disease. also how prominant will the individuals have to be before it is taken seriously?

[Franky]

Originally Posted by ladycolorado

there are times i wonder........how many will it take to get ill to get the proper attentionfor this disease. also how prominant will the individuals have to be before it is taken seriously?

Unfortunately someone in the future of high status will eventually get effected and then it will be taken to a whole new level. That's how it works time after time. Ms, Parkinson's disease, Aids all backed by celebrities and major politician's. Most were unknown until they were discussed by them.

[Bakunin]

Back in the good old days, scientists were working mostly for the sake of knowledge and science. Back then scientists were always happy to spent some time on discovering something new. In the time we are living now, they just stay idle till the problem has grown enough to provide a profit.

And people call it "progress"^^

[Bakunin]

Back in the good old days, scientists were working mostly for the sake of knowledge and science. Back then scientists were always happy to spent some time on discovering something new. In the time we are living now, they just stay idle till the problem has grown enough to provide a profit.

And people call it "progress"^^