Meet The Boy Turning Into A 'Human Tree' Because Of Extremely Rare And Painful Condition

Little Ripon Sarker is in the initial stages of the 'tree man illness

Meet the little boy who suffers from an extremely rare condition that makes his hands and feet look like they're turning into trees.

The body of seven-year-old Ripon Sarker is covered in scaly warts because he suffers from the condition known as 'epidermodysplasia verruciformis'.

Youngster Ripon, from Thakurgaon, Bangladesh, was only admitted to hospital for the first time this month because his family couldn't afford treatment.

Ripon has a rare skin disease disorder caused by human papillomaviruses

The young boy was admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital on August 20.

His dad Mahendra Das said: "They haven't carried out tests on him. Physicians say they will look into this matter before treatment."

Poor Ripon cannot walk or eat by himself because of his tree-like features but doctors have said they are hopeful that his hands and feet are operable as his fingers and toes and can still be identified.

Ripon has been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital in Bangladesh

His family have only just been able to send him to hospital

Ripon's symptoms match the ones of 26-year-old Abul Bajander dubbed ' tree man ' who also has the same condition and was recently operated at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

Burn and plastic surgery unit coordinator Samanta Lal Sen said: "We are hopeful about the child's situation.

"In Abul's case, we couldn't distinguish the warts from his fingers.

The condition causes the growth of scaly warts

"Ripon's warts have not expanded to that extent yet. He can identify his fingers and toes.

"We might be able to treat him with fewer operations."

The physician went on to explain that the child's family is extremely poor.

Ripon needs proper nutrition before he is operated on, doctors say

He said: "That's why he lacks proper nutrition. His physical development has been hampered as well. We need to give him proper nutrition before the operations begin.

"He might require blood as well."

Abul, 26, went under the knife in March to treat the extremely rare growths.

Doctors said it was difficult to distinguish Bajandar's fingers from the scaly warts which look like tree roots

'Tree man' Abul Bajandar is from the same area as Ripon

Abul Bajandar, the Bangladeshi 'tree man' who attracted worldwide attention earlier this year, suffers from epidermodysplasia verruciformis like the little seven-year-old boy Ripon

Epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV) is a rare and inherited skin disorder which creates wart-like lesions anywhere on the body.

The condition is caused by infection with the human papillomavirus and can create widespread skin eruptions, including wartlike lesions and reddish-brown pigmented plaques.

In order to inherit the disease two abnormal EV genes, one from each parent, must be present. No serious treatment against EV has been found, yet several treatments have been suggested.

Notable cases include a Romanian man named Ion Toader who was diagnosed with the condition in March 2007, and the Dede Koswara, from Indonesia.

Bajandar at a hospital in Dhaka in January this year. A rickshaw-van puller from Khulna, Suffering from the disease for the past six to seven years

Bajandar's feet have also been affected by the scaly warts, which begin to look like tree roots the more they grow