Following the information of some inhabitants in Thuong Cuu Commune in Thanh Son District in the northern province of Phu Tho contracted bizarre skin disease, Ministry of Health has sent a team of medical workers to Phu Tho for examination.
Bizarre skin disease victims have symptoms of black spots on skin, slow growth and fear of sun light.
Nguyen Tran Hien – former chief of the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology ( NIHE) – said that the team comprising of many experts of medical environment, skin and venereal diseases and pediatrics came to the house of two kids including 9 year old Ha Thi Nuong and over 3 year old Ha Thi Cuc who are contracting the strange disease.
The two kids’ relatives said that two kids were born healthily but when they were one month old, black spots appeared on their skin especially on face, neck, hands and legs which are usually exposed to the sun. Moreover, the two kids are grown up slowly and afraid of sun light.
According to investigation and medical center’s report, Thuong Cuu Commune has so far some cases of the strange skin disease like the two kids and 4 of them died of the disease.
Doctors of the National Children Hospital and the Central National Dermatology Hospital in Hanoi examined the two kids and took blood samples and skin samples for testing. Through testing, doctors asserted the two kids contracted Xeroderma Digmentosum, an autosomal recessive genetic disorder of DNA repair in which the ability to repair damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) light is deficient. It is not infectious disease but inherited.
Dr. Le Huu Danh, deputy head of the Central National Dermatology Hospital said that since 2009 the hospital admitted several cases of Xeroderma Digmentosum. Furthermore, every year the hospital examines 3-5 Xeroderma Digmentosum cases, adding that patients can avoid skin injuries if they obey doctors’ advice such as avoiding sun lights, rubbing suntan cream on skin, putting on thick clothes to prevent sun light.
Meanwhile, Dr. Tran Minh Dien, deputy head of the National Children Hospital, said that it needs more researches on the disease in Thanh Son District; accordingly, medical workers have also taken samples for testing in local labs and in foreign labs to verify genes of the two kids.
Dr. Dien proposed local authorities to announce widely information of the disease so that local residents can understand more about the disease.
