Why Portland? Or Kudos to Keller

Morgellons disease has been searched more in Portland, Oregon than any other city on Earth for 22 consecutive years according to Google Trends data from 2004 to present. Portland scores 100 on the search interest index. Seattle is second at 86. Boca Raton Florida third at 80. By country the United States leads at 100, Canada 76, Austria 57, Italy 53, Germany 50.No published paper on Morgellons disease has ever investigated the geographic clustering of cases in Portland Oregon. This episode asks why.Jesse Keller MD at Oregon Health and Science University OHSU is the only researcher in the United States conducting molecular bench science on Morgellons tissue. His 2023 paper in Archives of Dermatological Research found elevated oncostatin M expression in lesional skin biopsies of Morgellons patients compared to healthy controls. Oncostatin M is an inflammatory cytokine known to sensitize pain and itch neurons. His 2024 paper in British Journal of Dermatology documented that Morgellons patients report lower quality of life than patients with psoriasis atopic dermatitis and prurigo nodularis. Keller was featured on OPB Think Out Loud on March 10 2026 discussing Morgellons disease.Referenced research: Keller Liu Latour 2023 Archives of Dermatological Research. Gipple Latour Keller Dhami 2024 British Journal of Dermatology. Pearson Vuolo Freire Merritt Klotter Maughan Montanez Amobi Middleton Dahlgren 2012 PLoS One CDC unexplained dermopathy study. Beuerlein Balogh Feldman 2021 Dermatology Online Journal. Akbarialiabad Salehi Murrell Jafferany 2025 Archives of Dermatological Research confirming zero randomized controlled trials exist for Morgellons treatment.More Morgellons podcast. Hosted by Summer. Over 400 episodes heard in 100 plus countries. Top 5 percent on Listen Notes. Available on all major podcast platforms.Website to leave CC a VM is www.moremorgellons.com