Leslie Jamison’s essay, “The Devil’s Bait”, captures her interest in an unexplained disease that others are often hesitant to pay any attention to, nonetheless invest themselves in understanding the people it affects every day like Jamison decided she would do. Morgellons Disease, an ailment that presents itself in physical symptoms such as pain, formication, and, the most profound symptom differing the illness from others, fibers protruding from the surface of the skin. Even years after the first case in 2001 and according to the essay some “12,000” other people reporting symptoms of Morgellons, the disease is not taken seriously by many. Scientists, medical professionals, and loved ones first take to blaming mental illness or drugs when first hearing the symptoms these patients are experiencing. Jamison even includes part of a released CDC study surrounding “Unexplained Dermopathy”, and after citing the report stated, “the author suggested, with some delicacy, that patients might be treated for a number of ‘co-existing conditions’, such as drug abuse and psychosomatic disorders.” (65) This is important to realize because some of the patients who have concluded they have the disease have no history with either of these factors.
Throughout the essay, Jamison discusses her time spent at a Morgellons conference she attended at The Westoak Woods Baptist Church. She tells the stories of some of the people she met there, she explains the differences in their experiences and their symptoms. But throughout all the differences, one effect of the disease that was similar across the board is one which isn’t shown as a physical symptom. It is havoc which the uncertainty of what is going to happen next wreaks on their mental health. Whether it be the fact that they don’t know what symptoms are going to arise or not knowing who is going to believe them when they talk about the illness. Jamison enters the world of the people suffering from a different point of view other than a scientist or doctor. In the field of science, in order to believe something you need to see the proof, real, hard, replicable evidence. Because Leslie Jamison is not a scientist, she’s not a doctor, not a researcher, but an interested novelist. A researcher who Jamison came in touch with told her this, “When I heard of your interest, I felt genuine hope that the real story would be told accurately and sensitively.” (70) By including this in her essay, Jamison is representing how researchers and doctors have to stick to the facts because that is the base of their profession, and how this may be a drive for her and others to be passionate about learning all aspects of the story.
