SKIRMISHER

An Indonesian man named Dede has been having these strange lush growth all over his body, and now, an American dermatologist says such growth is actually caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). An HPV infection is usually behind the common wart you see on ugly people, except Dede has a genetic infection that allows the warts to continue growing like the Amazon.

The virus was therefore able to “hijack the cellular machinery of his skin cells”, ordering them to produce massive amounts of the substance that caused the tree-like growths known as “cutaneous horns” on his hands and feet.

Dede’s counts of a key type of white blood cell are so low that Dr Gaspari initially suspected he may have the Aids virus.

But tests showed he did not, and it became clear that Dede’s immune condition was something far rarer and more mysterious.

Warts aside, he had enjoyed remarkable good health throughout his life - which would not be expected of someone with a suppressed immune system - and neither his parents nor his siblings have shown signs of developing lesions.

“The likelihood of having his deficiency is less than one in a million,” Dr Gaspari told the Telegraph.

And for a while there we thought Dede could actually be friends with our friend from Europe, some dude that looks like him but whose affliction goes by the name Lewandowsky-Lutz dysplasia. But on second thought, maybe they could still give each other high-fives.

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