>Tree man 'who grew roots' may be cured > >An Indonesian fisherman who feared that he would be killed by tree-like >growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American >doctor - and Vitamin A. > > >Telegraph TV: Dede talks about his extraordinary affliction Man hurt after >blasting wheel with shotgun Delhi's monkey business takes sinister twist >Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty "roots" began growing out >of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident. > >Watch: Dr Anthony Gaspari believes that he has diagnosed Dede's rare >condition The welts spread across his body unchecked and soon he was left >unable to carry out everyday household tasks. > >Sacked from his job and deserted by his wife, Dede has been raising his >two children - now in their late teens - in poverty, resigned to the fact >that local doctors had no cure for his condition. > >To make ends meet he even joined a local "freak show", parading in front >of a paying audience alongside victims of other peculiar diseases. > >Although supported by his extended family, he was often a target of abuse >and ridicule in his rural fishing village. > >But now an American dermatology expert who flew out to Dede's home village >south of the capital Jakarta claims to have identified his >condition, and proposed a treatment that could transform his life. > >Watch: The growths on Dede's arms and feet are known as 'cutaneous horns'. >After testing samples of the lesions and Dede's blood, Dr Anthony Gaspari >of the University of Maryland concluded that his affliction is caused by >the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually >causes small warts to develop on sufferers. > >Dede's problem is that he has a rare genetic fault that impedes his immune >system, meaning his body is unable to contain the warts. > >The virus was therefore able to "hijack the cellular machinery of his skin >cells", ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance that >caused the tree-like growths known as "cutaneous horns" on his hands and feet. > >Dede's counts of a key type of white blood cell are so low that Dr Gaspari >initially suspected he may have the Aids virus. > >But tests showed he did not, and it became clear that Dede's immune >condition was something far rarer and more mysterious. > >Warts aside, he had enjoyed remarkable good health throughout his life - >which would not be expected of someone with a suppressed immune system - >and neither his parents nor his siblings have shown signs of developing >lesions. > >"The likelihood of having his deficiency is less than one in a million," >Dr Gaspari told the Telegraph. > >Watch: Dede with his teenage daughter. He fears that his children may also >become infected Dr Gaspari, who became involved in the case through a >Discovery Channel documentary, believes that Dede's condition can be >largely cleared up by a daily doses of a synthetic form of Vitamin A, >which has been shown to arrest the growth of warts in severe cases of HPV. > >"He won't have a perfectly normal body but the warts should reduce in size >to the point where he could use his hands," Dr Gaspari said. > >"Over the course of three to six months the warts should be come smaller >and fewer in number. He will be living a more normal life." > >The most resilient warts could then be frozen off and the growths on his >hands and feet surgically removed. > >Dr Gaspari hopes to get the necessary drugs free of charge from >pharmaceutical firms. They would then be administered by Indonesian >doctors under his supervision. > >Still intrigued by the origins of Dede's peculiar immune condition, the >doctor would like to fly him to the United States for further examination, >but fears the financial and bureaucratic barriers would prove too >difficult to overcome. > >"I would like to bring him to the US to run tests on where his immune >condition has come from, but I would need funding and to get him a visa as >well as someone to cover the costs of the tests," he said. > >"I've never seen anything like this in my entire career." > >"Half Man Half Tree", part of the "My Shocking Story" series, will be >shown on the Discovery Channel at 9pm on Nov 15. For more details visit >the programme's website. > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
