10-yr-old Bangladesh girl sprouts bark-like warts on face

A 10-year-old Bangladesh girl has sprouted bark-like warts on her face, which doctor's fear might be another case of tree-man disease in the country.

Shahana Khatun's father, a farmer, was concerned when he found the growth on her face. He had previously thought it to be prickly heat rashes. But the growths began to spread and grow, The Daily Star reported on Wednesday.

Khatun could be the first female in the country to be afflicted with the tree-man syndrome, after Abul Bajandar, who made news around the world with the long wooden-wart like outgrowths.

"This appears to be similar to Tree man disease that affected Abul Bajandar, hailing from Khulna," Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of Dhaka Medical College Hospital's Burn and Plastic Surgery Unit, told The Daily Star.

Khatun will be treated at the same hospital and a six-member medical board will be formed to assess her illness.

"At the age of one, she appeared to have what was then thought to be prickly heat rashes on her face. These started to grow about three years back," her father said.

Abul Bajandar, 26, also known as "tree man", has undergone at least 18 operations at the same hospital where Khatun is receiving treatment.

Bajandar is suffering from epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a rare skin disorder commonly known as the tree man illness, which covers limbs with warts, making them look like tree branches. He is believed to be the fourth man in the world with the illness.

--IANS

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