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Message: <blockquote data-quote="gazaly" data-source="post: 961976" data-attributes="member: 10197"> 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.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.<img src="http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/gazaly786/image001-7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />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.<img src="http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/gazaly786/image002-2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />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.<img src="http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l252/gazaly786/image003-2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" />  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."</blockquote>

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