A 35-year-old fisherman from a rural Indonesian town, is living with a rare and peculiar medical condition, tree-like warty “roots” cover his skin, and grow outward from his arms and feet.
The condition began after he cut his knee as a teenager. The warts progressively spread across his body, due to a rare genetic fault that prevents immune system from containing the growths..
An American dermatologist who tested samples of his blood believes he has identified the cause of the growths, called “cutaneous horns,” and has proposed a treatment that could save the fisherman’s life.
According to the doctor, the condition is caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a fairly common infection that usually causes small warts to develop on sufferers, but this is an extreme case of HPV. "The likelihood of having his deficiency is less than one in a million." He believes the ailment can be cleared up with a daily dose of a synthetic form of Vitamin A.
