South Africa has discovered the first ever black patient with progeria, an extremely rare genetic disease that causes rapid aging
The Massachusetts-based Progeria Research Foundation, based in the US state of Massachusetts, identified only 80 patients on five continents in a two-year search campaign for such patients. Of these, only 12-year-old Ontlametse Phalatse from the town of Hebron near Johannesburg is of the black race, according to the executive director of the foundation Audrey Gordon.
According to the girl's mother Bellon Phalatse, at birth the child looked completely normal, but already at the age of three months he began to suffer from a strange skin rash, and at the age of one, age-related changes in the skin and nails began, as well as hair loss. Due to the girl's premature aging, her father left the family when she was three years old, and now she and her unemployed mother live on disability benefits.
Photo: Credit unknown / paranormal-news.ru
Despite her illness, Falatse successfully started school at the age of six. According to her, the attitude of teachers and classmates leaves much to be desired, since they believe that her condition is caused by AIDS (although South Africa is the world's leader in the number of HIV-infected, this disease is a social stigma in the country). Nevertheless, the girl remains optimistic and good-natured.
Two years ago, a doctor I knew suggested that Falatse was suffering from progeria. A targeted examination confirmed this diagnosis, and the child became known to the Progeria Research Foundation. Now the girl flies to the United States for every vacation for examination and experimental treatment. Despite this, her prognosis, like that of other similar patients, is unfavorable - almost all of them die in adolescence.
As Gordon emphasized, there are still large blank spots on the map of Progeria cases identified by the foundation - areas where the organization cannot search for patients. Along with most of Africa and China, Russia is such a blank spot.
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