Jay Traver

Jay Traver, an entomologist, published a paper in Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington called "Unusual Scalp Dermatitis in Humans Caused by the Mite, Dermatophagoides (Acarina, epidermoptidae)." in 1951. This paper was a comprehensive study of a mite infestation of her scalp. Travers was the only one who could detect the mites, and they resisted all forms of treatment. This was a hallucination. Travers was diagnosed with Delusory Parasitosis, or Ekbom syndrome. This is an illness in which the victim believes that there are bugs living underneath their skin that will not go away, and that nobody else can detect. Therefore, to Traver, all of the results in the published paper are completely true. However, the issue is then raised on if the paper should be retracted for scientific misconduct being as the results are false. When this question is raised, some then argue that retracting the paper will be discrimination against the mentally ill. Another side argues that even though the results were hallucinated, that this paper could instead be a study on the disease itself coming first hand.

Ekbom syndrome, aka delusory parasitosis, is the belief by an individual that their body is infested with invisible bugs, mites, or other insects even though they are not. The individuals perceive the insects as different sensations, i.e. stinging, burning, itching, crawling, etc.) and also visualize the insects crawling on top of or underneath of their skin. ES is a rare condition, with an estimation of only 25,000 sufferers in the United States. "Although the sufferers of this disease may feel the sensations, it has been concluded that the hallucinations were caused by the brain trying to identify the cause, leading to the thought/interpretation of organisms on the skin." Anyone can suffer from this disease, regardless of their race, education, or age, although the majority are older and female. People who suffer from this disease may come up with wild ideas as to how to control the bugs. Some use a range of cleansing products and other remedies to clean their car, home, and other places in which they go, as to eliminate the insects. When trying to remove the insects from their bodies, sufferers tend to pick and/or dig into their skin, creating scars, lesions, and other lacerations. The most common way in doing this is with ones teeth or fingers, although needles, tweezers, knives, razor blades, and other sharp objects have been used. The sufferer is unable to catch any one of the millions of bugs they see, no matter how much time and effort they spend doing so. Other medical conditions such as brain tumors or inability to manage diabetes can cause this illness, as well as depression, anxiety, stress and other psychological conditions. Usually psychotherapy is used to treat this disorder, although it is not accepted by all of the psychological community. Drugs, placebos, interventions, and psychiatric help are also other methods of treatment.

In the article "Mad Scientist: A Unique Case of a Published Delusion", Matan Shelomi discusses the article written by Jay Traver. Shelomi argues that the article should be retracted on the basis that the results are incapable of being duplicated. There are two possible reasons for retracting the article; either there was error or scientific misconduct. Error is a consideration because if Traver did successfully capture dust mites as she claimed, as an entomologist she should have known better than to assume they were parasitic. Dust mites, or Dermatophagoides scheremetewskyi, feed off of dead human skin cells but do not inhabit humans. However, due to her delusional parasitosis Traver could have just imagined the dust mites when there really were none present. If that was the case, then the reason for retraction would be scientific misconduct because Traver would have been reporting false data. Shelomi argues that whichever is the case Traver’s article should be retracted. A consequence of the article remaining in publication is arming patients with delusional parasitosis with evidence against their doctors, thereby postponing the treatment of their condition.