I'm convinced it is a disease, I just have trouble believing that researchers haven't found a pathogen for it. Fungi, if memory serves, have life cycles that can manifest very different structure at different stages ... the athlete's foot we walk around with has a much larger and completely different appearance in another stage of its life cycle.
OPINION: I like the way you are thinking out of the box. I do believe it is something that our modern medications/doseages at this time are unable
to completely wipe iout.
The more documentation of cases; the more information will be gleaned.