40-year-old mother of two, Rezia Begam from Bangladesh, has been suffering from so-called elephantiasis for 18 years, due to which her leg is swollen to an appalling size and weighs 132 pounds (60 kg). Every year the leg swells more and more and now it can threaten the woman with death.
Resia began to notice swelling in her leg shortly after the birth of her second daughter, now 18 years old. Her condition has not been fully examined, but a preliminary diagnosis of elephantiasis (elephantiasis) was made. Now a woman cannot provide for herself and her daughters on her own and is completely dependent on the departure of her relatives.
In medicine, in most cases, it is believed that elephantiasis (abnormal increase in the size of any part of the body) is caused by a parasitic nematode. Another possible variant of the cause of the disease is a congenital malformation of the lymphatic system, which consists in blockage of the lymphatic vessels or in violation of the circulation of lymph flow (lymphostasis).
With elephantiasis, sore skin becomes covered with warts and ulcers. At the site of the lesion, the phenomena of lymphatic and venous stasis, tissue edema and irritation of the connective tissue are noted. In the skin and subcutaneous tissue, hypertrophic processes develop due to the proliferation of connective tissue in the skin and intermuscular spaces, and at the same time by thickening of the bone.
Hypertrophy leads to a change in the shape and volume of organs; in most cases, the legs are affected, which increase and resemble the legs of an elephant. Treatment of the disease is usually aimed at treating inflammatory diseases, improving lymphatic drainage from the lower extremities. In severe cases, surgical operations are used (mainly amputation of an infected organ).
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Poor Resia suffers not only from physical inconveniences, but also from the fact that she now "hangs on the neck" of her relatives and gives them problems. She is now being examined at the clinic of the Medical College in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
Doctors are sure that a woman could face death if the leg continues to increase in size in the upper part and the tumor moves to the lower abdomen.