A 12-year-old girl from Bangladesh is suffering from a rare hormonal condition so severe that her body is covered in thick black hair from head to toe.
Bithi Akhtar, a middle school student from Tangail district in central Bangladesh, was born with ‘werewolf syndrome’, a condition in which abnormal amounts of hair grow all over the body.
But last year, as she neared puberty, Bithi’s mother Beauty Akhtar observed that her daughter’s breasts had started growing at an abnormal rate. And by the end of the year, Bithi’s breasts were so big that she was not even able to stand straight under the weight.
Eventually she was forced her to stop going to school. Her mother Beauty Akhtar, 27, said: “My daughter was born with thick black hair that looked like wool all over her body. I think she got the ‘disease’ when she was in my womb. We sought help from several doctors but no one could treat her completely.
“She would cry all day long because of the immense pain due to the weight. She could not walk or sit straight. Despite being a bright student, my daughter had to stop attending school because of the pain and jibes attacked by peers,” added Ms Akhtar, whose other children-two boys aged nine and seven are perfectly normal.
Bithi’s miserable condition left her parents both distressed and worried for her future. Her father, Abdur Razzak, who ferries passengers on a rented motorcycle and makes £30 a day, took a loan from a bank and brought her to Dhaka, the capital city and admitted her at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical College.
Doctors at the medical college are now looking for possible treatment for curing the girl. Dr Farid Uddin, the Head of Department of Hormones at the hospital said: “This looks like a severe case of abnormal hormones, While we think some of the problems will go away with medicine, we are yet to ascertain her medical history and causes and start the treatment.”
(Inputs from AP)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)