INDONESIA: Indonesian man suffers from a rare disease which causes tree-like growths all over his body
- 00:02:52
- ITN Source
INDONESIA: Indonesian man suffers from a rare disease which causes tree-like growths all over his body
Sacked from his job, deserted by his wife, shunned by neighbours -- "tree man" Dede has been treated as a freak for most of his life because of the strange gnarled roots that sprout from his hands and feet. But now the 35-year-old Indonesian, who lives in the small village of Tanjung Jaya about 150 km south of the capital Jakarta, hopes that a doctor in the United States will be able to treat the horn-like growths that started to appear on his body when he was a teenager and which have ruined his life. Dede, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said he first noticed warts growing on his body after he cut his knee as a teenager. "First it felt itchy and some warts appeared on my feet. I neglected it and then growths started appearing quickly, covering my whole body," Dede told Reuters Television in an interview at his parent's residence. Unable to work because he cannot use his hands, and abandoned by his wife, Dede now lives in poverty with his two teenage daughters. He said that he cannot travel anywhere and is forced to stay in his parent's house because his hands and feet are so heavy and cumbersome due to the growths. He briefly joined a "freak show" in the nearby city of Bandung in order to earn some money to support himself, but while his family look after him, he is often the target of abuse and ridicule in his village. "Sometimes people mock me, but sometimes they don't," Dede says. In 1993 he was admitted to a local hospital, but doctors could not find a cure for his condition. But now, an American doctor has proposed possible treatment. According to media reports, Dr. Anthony Gaspari from University of Maryland tested Dede's blood and said that the growths are the result of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts. Dr. Gaspari, who became involved in the case through a Discovery Channel documentary, believes that Dede's condition can be cleared up using daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A, which has been shown to arrest the growth of warts in severe cases of HPV, according to media reports.
ITN Source | November 26, 2007
