Disease "Tree-Man": history, causes and medical facts

There is no limit to the imagination of artists and directors: in art, you can meet many bizarre images. Catwoman, Spiderman, forest children from the George Martin saga. .. However, at times reality is much more amazing than fiction. In a remote Indonesian village, there lived a tree man who received his nickname for strange growths on his skin, reminiscent of branches covered with thick bark. And the history of this man amazes imagination no less than popular fiction works. What is a terrible disease? Tree-man is one of the most mysterious patients in the history of medicine, and he will be discussed in this article.

Dede Koswar: a man who turned into a tree

Indonesian, famous throughout the world for his rare disease, was called Dede Coswara. His body was covered with frightening growths, reminiscent of a tree bark. These tumors grew at an astonishing rate: up to five centimeters per year.

The story of Dede began when he was only 10 years old. Once, while walking in the woods, the boy severely injured his knee: a seemingly ordinary, unremarkable trauma, which could have been forgotten. But, unfortunately, after this incident on the body of Dada appeared frightening neoplasms. The hands and feet of the Indonesian were particularly affected. No one could defeat a terrible disease: a tree-man by the age of 25 could no longer go fishing and provide for the life of his family. The wife left Dede, taking two children. The only way to get food for the unfortunate was to demean a demonstration of his body in the circus arena. ..

World fame

In 2007, the Discovery channel made a documentary about the unique case of Dede. The history of the man-tree has amazed the American physicians: doctor Gaspari from the University of Maryland decided to study this medical incident.

The scientist discovered that Dade's disease is caused by the human papillomavirus. Patient Gaspari had a rare mutation that did not allow the immune system to stop the spread of the virus. It is for this reason that huge tree-like growths began to form on the body. A similar state in medicine is called epidermodysplasia of Lewandowski-Lutz. Dede Kosvary's disease is one of the rarest in the world: such a defect is registered only in two hundred people.

What is the papilloma virus?

Human papillomavirus( HPV) is a group of viruses that cause the appearance of warts and papillomas. There are more than 100 types of papillomaviruses, of which 80 can infect humans. According to statistics of the World Health Organization, about 70% of the world's population are carriers of HPV.In this case, quite often the virus does not manifest itself, but the person is its distributor. HPV can become more active if the immunity of the carrier is weakened for some reason. In this case, the virus enters the epithelial cells, causing them to expand. This is manifested in the appearance of warts and papillomas.

The virus enters the body through wounds and cuts, usually it occurs in childhood. Answering the question, what is a human tree - a disease or a mutation, doctors came to an unequivocal decision: it is a combination of exposure to HPV skin cells and a rare immune defect that is inherited.

Treatment of

American doctors came to the conclusion that it is impossible to completely cure the disease "tree-man", because it is impossible to change the genes of Dede. However, there was a chance to return the Indonesian to normal life by carrying out a number of surgical operations. Dede went to America, where for nine months he had removed about six kilograms of tumors. At the same time, quite expensive therapy was carried out, the purpose of which was to strengthen the patient's immunity and suppress the spread of the human papillomavirus. However, after a while the chemotherapy had to be stopped: the patient's liver could not cope with sufficiently aggressive drugs. In addition, the treatment was stopped ahead of schedule due to the fact that Dr. Gaspari had numerous conflicts with Indonesian officials.

The efforts of the doctors brought their results: after returning from America, Dede could use his hands, independently own and even use a mobile phone. In numerous interviews, Kosvar said that he dreams of returning to normal life, working and even starting a family.

World fame

After the film about the human tree saw the audience, Dede gained worldwide popularity. Many were interested in how a tree man lives, and some were so touched by his story that they sent money to a man. Thanks to this financial assistance, Dede was able to fulfill his dream and acquire a piece of land and a car.

However, the Indonesian had a long way to a normal life, because his condition was severe enough: warts continued to grow, besides doctors in Indonesia for too long could not put him the right diagnosis, which means that the priceless time was lost. .. The disease "tree-man "continued to progress. ..

Is it possible to heal?

Doctors believed that Dede's condition could significantly improve bone marrow transplantation: unfortunately, this operation is not possible in Indonesia, and the government prevented Dede from traveling abroad. For what reasons? It's very simple: the officials were afraid that such a "valuable" patient could be used by the Americans as an object of research. .. After all, a tree man whose illness is rare enough can be of great interest for science, and therefore he must remain at home.

Unfortunately, Dede does not have a happy end story. On January 30, 2016, a tree man whose illness continued to progress, died in an Indonesian hospital. His tumors continued to grow: Dede had to do two operations a year, so that growths did not interfere with his life. However, all efforts were futile.

Indonesian doctors who tried to save Dada, in an interview, confessed that a man who, instead of skin, had bark and tree branches, resigned himself to his illness and its inevitable outcome, tired of the endless operations and constant insults that accompanied him throughout most of his life.

According to the unhappy sister, in recent years he was unable to feed himself and did not even talk, because he was too weak.

What caused the death of a human tree?

Many complications of surgical operations, including hepatitis and problems with the gastrointestinal tract, have become the cause of Coswara's death.

Dede dreamed that someday a cure for his terrible disease will be found. Paradoxically, a man-tree wanted to become a carpenter. Unfortunately, Dede Kosvary's dreams were not destined to come true: the doctors failed to defeat the terrible disease.

At the time of death, the human tree was only 42 years old.