I do HIV testing and counseling and recently had a client come in for testing who had sores all over his body. He said he wanted to rule out AIDS but acknowledged that it was the least of his concerns right now. Said he has bugs crawling in his skin and nobody believes him. I wrote him off as a lunatic. What do you think? –Norm Fones, Portland, Oregon
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As one would expect in our advanced age, people with delusional parasitosis have their own support groups and Web sites, such as the one run by the National Unidentified Skin Parasite Association at www.skinparasites.com and the Cutaneous Parasite Home Page at www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/9542/. The prevailing attitude at both sites is: Who you calling delusional? These suckers are real. Read these comments from the CPHP guest book and judge for yourself:
“On occasion I notice spiders dangling from my hair. The same type and often enough to think they be living up there. Are there any type of spiders like that? I also have a specimen that I caught alive.
The bane of most dermatologists’ existence, delusional parasitosis is difficult to treat. Patients tend to fall into two groups: socially isolated elderly women and a younger, more heterogeneous crowd that includes alcoholics and drug abusers suffering from “cocaine bugs.” Most refuse to see a psychiatrist and many won’t take antipsychotic drugs that have been shown to be effective, such as pimozide.
