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TANGERANG, INDONESIA - A team of doctors assigned to handle a boy with skin deformities, at Tangerang General Hospital, announced Saturday they found no infection in the 12-year old patient, Ari Setiawan.
"For the time being, we believe the deformity has been caused by genetic factors because his mother and father are cousins," said Anggraeni, a skin specialist at the hospital, adding there was a slim possibility for the boy's full recovery.
"The boy suffered from a skin disease called ichthyosis," Anggraeni said.
The boy was taken by the hospital staff from his parents home Thursday and admitted to the hospital for intensive treatment.
The action followed complaints from neighbors who feared his skin problem was a communicable disease.
The boy's skin had become dry like bark, from head to toe. He also suffered from myopia caused by damage to his cornea.
One of the boy's neighbors, Sahiyah, said Ari Setiawan had shown symptoms on his skin since he was three months old, but his parents never took him to hospital because they were poor.
Anggraeni said considering the parents' financial situation, the boy would not be charged any hospital fees for his treatment. -JP
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