Hands with big roots Patient with tree-man-disease is doing a little better

Rare Disease: Treatment of "Baummann" shows first successes
Bangladeshi Abul Bajandar suffers from an extremely rare disease. His hands look like tree roots and he also has wood-like outgrowths on his feet. The treatment of the 26-year-old with the tree-man disease now showed first successes.

Extremely rare disease
According to the European definition, a disease is considered rare if it affects less than five in 10,000 people. Overall, so-called rare diseases are not so rare. In Germany alone, around four million people are affected. An extremely rare disease is called epidermodysplasia verruciformis (or Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia or Lutz-Lewandowsky epidermodysplasia verruciformis). Abul Bajandar is one of the few patients who have it. Ten years ago, his hands and feet began to change. Because of the wood-like outgrowths, the 26-year-old is also called the "tree man".

Hands like tree roots
The hands of Abul Bajandar look like tree roots and wood-like outgrowths also grow on his feet. The 26-year-old from Bangladesh suffers from the extremely rare "tree-man disease". Already ten years ago the growth began. Now the patient was operated on for the first time. According to press reports, the medical treatment has now shown initial successes. "The first operation has given me hope," said Abul Bajandar, according to a news agency AFP.

About a dozen more operations needed
A medical team from the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) had removed some of the growth on Saturday on the right hand. As the director of the University Hospital, Samanta Lal Sen, explained, were also addressed the fingers. "He is feeling better now." Professor Abul Kalam, under whose direction the operation was conducted, told the newspaper "Dhaka Tribune": "We must proceed slowly and carefully. We think we need about 15 surgeries for Abul. "The patient wants to continue treatment regardless of duration. "I do not want to go back to my village without my hands and feet being alright," says the 26-year-old.

Growths weighing five kilograms
Abul Bajandars growths had recently reached a total weight of at least five kilograms. These started already ten years ago, but it got really bad four years ago, as the patient himself reported. The 26-year-old is suffering from the genetic skin disease Epidermodysplasia verruciformis, which is associated with an increased susceptibility to human papillomavirus (HPV). As a result of HPV infection, it can lead to scaly patches of skin and nodules, especially on the hands and feet, which can sometimes take gigantic proportions. Bajandar, who has become a little celebrity as a result of his illness, is visited by hundreds of people both in his hometown of Khulna and in the hospital. The tests showed that his illness is not a cancer. The Bangladeshi government announced that it was paying the costs of the treatment. (Ad)