Tree man' Abul Bajandar

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Image copyrightAFP/Getty

Image captionAbul Bajandar has epidermodysplasia verruciformi, a rare genetic disease that causes warts to form on the hands and feet

Bangladesh's government will pay for the treatment of "tree man" Abul Bajandar, who has a rare disease that causes warts to form on his body.

Health minister Mohammad Nasim made the announcement after visiting Mr Bajandar in hospital on Thursday.

Mr Bajandar has epidermodysplasia verruciformi, a genetic disease that makes a person susceptible to skin growth. It is popularly known as "tree man disease".

He first developed warts 10 years ago.

"Initially, I thought that they're harmless," Mr Bajandar told AFP.

"There are now dozens of two to three inch roots in both my hands. And there are some small ones in my legs," he said.

Image copyrightAFP/Getty

Image captionMr Bajandar had to rely on family members to help him eat

Mr Bajandar travelled to India to seek treatment, but his family could not afford the cost of operations.

Samples of his blood and skin tissue are now being sent to a laboratory in the United States, professor Abul Kalam, a plastic surgeon

He will be treated in Bangladesh when his diagnosis reports are available.

Mr Bajandar's is one of only three cases of "tree man disease" in the world, Samanta Lal Sen, director at Dhaka Medical College Hospital

"It is the first time we have found such a rare case in Bangladesh," he said.

Chandre Oram 13-inch Tailed Man

With a 13-inch tail, Chandre Oram, a tea-estate worker, has become quite an object of devotion in his native Alipurduar, West Bengal and believes that Hanuman is manifest in him. "I was born on Ram Navami (birthday of Lord Ram). People have a lot of faith in me - they get cured of severe ailments when they touch my tail. I believe I can do a lot of good to those who come to me with devotion," says the man, before whom thousands of people queue up each day to seek blessings. In a corner of the courtyard of his home, Oram has set up a small Hanuman temple, where he receives offerings on Ram Navami, which he later offers to the deity. 
However, because of the tail, Oram has found it difficult to get a bride. "Almost 20 women have turned down marriage proposals. They see me and agree to a match. But as soon as I turn around, they see my tail and leave. But I have decided I will marry the woman who accepts me and my tail. Or else, I'll remain a bachelor like Hanuman," he said.  Oram's family is proud of his tail and has turned down offers from doctors for its removal by surgery. "He will not survive without his tail. It has become part of his being, his existence," said Rekha, his sister. Doctors say that true tails are rare. But they are located in the coccygeal end of the vertebral column whereas Oram's tail shoots out from the lumbar region. "The coccyx is a vestige in humans and we stopped growing tails from that region a long time ago when we evolved from monkeys. Oram's case seems an aberration, an offshoot of a congenital defect," said eminent surgeon Dr B Ramana. The medical community reads the monkey man's case as a spina bifida -- a defect in the bone of the spine covered by a hole with lots of hair covering it. 

Frog-like Baby

On 2006, this bizarre-looking baby was born in Charikot, the headquarters of Dolakha district, attracting a huge number of onlookers to witness the astonishing sight. 

The neck-less baby with its head almost totally sunk into the upper part of the body and with extraordinarily large eyeballs literally popping out of the eye-sockets, was born to Nir Bahadur Karki and Suntali Karki at the Gaurishnkar Hospital in Charikot. The Karki couple is a permanent resident of Dolakha's Bhirkot VDC. 

The bizarre baby, however, died after half an hour of its birth, Suntali, the mother, informed. It was taken to the hospital after its death. The news about such a baby being brought to the hospital spread like wildfire and there were hundreds gathered at the hospital to have a look. The police had to be deployed to control the crowd. 

The baby weighed 2kg at birth and was born after the normal nine-month gestation period. Suntali, already a mother of two normal daughters, was not suffering from any illness during the pregnancy. Nir Bahadur, the father, says he does not feel any remorse for the newly-born baby's death. "I am happy that nothing happened to my wife," he said. 

Shanyna Isom Woman Who Grows Fingernails in Place of Hair

What if an unknown illness cost you everything? That is what happened to a Mid-South woman whose medical crisis has baffled doctors for almost three years now. It is a medical mystery you may find hard to watch, but what this woman lost due to disease she has gained in strength and spirit. Shanyna Isom was a high school graduate working toward a law degree. Today, loved ones have to help her get out of bed or off of the sofa. The nightmare began in September 2009, when Isom had an allergic reaction to steroids that she was given for an asthma attack. Within months, she was eaten alive by a debilitating skin disease doctors have yet to diagnose.

In August 2011, Isom was admitted to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. Doctors determined that she produces 12 times the number of skin cells per hair follicle, which suffocates her skin. Instead of hair, her skin follicles produce human nails.

Doctors have been able to control her symptoms

Real Life "Benjamin Button" Brothers

 a pair of middle-aged brothers back to their childhood. Former RAF serviceman Michael Clark, 42, became homeless and now acts like a 10-year-old. Matthew Clark, 39, lost his job as a factory worker and started behaving like a toddler, despite having a 19-year-old daughter, Lydia, who is expecting a baby.

Their tragic situation mirrors the Brad Pitt film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in which an old man keeps growing younger. The brothers now spend their days watching episodes ofThe Smurfs, eating crisps, and playing Snakes and Ladders because Clue is too difficult.

The brothers began behaving oddly after their parents retired to Spain in 2007. However, things came to a head last year when former RAF gunner Michael was evicted from his flat and slept rough for three weeks. Concerned Salvation Army workers sent him to a doctor and it was then that experts diagnosed his terminal leukodystrophy.

Further tests confirmed that Matthew, who used to work for the snack company Walkers, had the same devastating illness. The neurological disease is fairly common in newborns but affects just 100 adults in Britain. It attacks the brain, nervous system, and spinal cord. 

A devastating age-reversing disease has regres

Yaritza Oliva The Woman Who Cries Tears of Blood

Doctors in Chile have been left stumped after being presented with a patient who apparently cries tears of blood. Yaritza Oliva, a 20-year-old from the city of Purranque, cries blood red tears several times a day after being afflicted by a mysterious condition earlier this month
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After seeking medical assistance, she was prescribed eye drops to ease the burning pain she said was "indescribable." Her local hospital ruled out both an eye infection and conjunctivitis, believing that she may be suffering from a rare condition known as haemolacria, although it has yet to be officially diagnosed.

Several case of haemolacria have surfaced in recent years, although very little is known about the condition or its causes

Little Hayley Okines The Oldest Looking Teenager

Little Hayley Okines was told that she would not live beyond the age of 13. The youngster suffers from a rare disease called progeria, which turns children old before they have reached their teens. However, having reached her 14th birthday she has defied all odds, and to celebrate she has published her autobiography.

Progeria takes its name from the Greek word "proeros" meaning prematurely old, and involves a mutant protein called progerin that accelerates physical ageing. It ages the body at eight times the normal rate, leaving Hayley with skin that is thin and papery and bones that are fragile. Progeria patients normally die from heart attacks or strokes at an average age of 13.