HEALTH: The Treeman, Dede Kosawa

I heard about this years ago, and the information is resurfacing...

We're going to make a move to have this put in the Genital Skin Disorders text books of the world under the category of "STD's gone REALLY bad."




To be fair, this is not a sexually transmitted version of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus -- the virus that causes warts, and cervical/rectal cancer), but it is a very close cousin. Those are, in fact, warts you are looking at. They are called cutaneous horns and this particular nasty brand found itself living on the body Dede Kosawa from Indonesia, who had a preexisting immunity issue (not HIV, some of the stories are quick to point) that caused this rare form to proliferate and form the growths that earned him the name Treeman.

Here's a really over-dramatized YouTube video about the Discovery Health documentary they had tonight. I mean, really, really overdramatized... but there's some cool shots in it of his hands and the surgery:



Now there are two really interesting things that strike me about this whole situation:

First, it weirds me out like crazy but also fascinates me that it could get that bad. You know? I have seen some crazy medical stuff that makes you go, how could the person just let it go... but this is insane. Poor guy. Stuck in a country with lower-end medical care, with a rare strain of disease + an immunity issue. I mean, that sucks. I know you all expect really intelligent commentary, but there's nothing else to it: that just sucks. And then to be plastered all over the world as "the guy with that stuff" -- I can't help but feel bad for him. It's really sweet, though, how well his family has taken care of him; it's also really sweet that he would join a freak show because he believes in supporting his family just that much. What a story!

Second, there are all sorts of legends out there of men (and women) who turn into trees for various punishments or for various mythical reasons. It's always fun to find the potential root (no pun intended) of these myths.

Anyways, something to think about this evening.