Skin disease case in Pangasinan not leprosy, says doc

Rumors of a flesh-eating disease outbreak in Pangasinan have been debunked, with the Department of Health announcing that of the two cases of skin disease reported, one is a girl with leprosy and the other is a young man with a severe case of psoriasis.

However, the girl's doctor said that her condition was not leprosy as earlier reported.

“Hindi totoo yun... May ginawa ba silang test para malaman nilang leprosy? Kasi ako dalawang test ang ginawa ko diyan,” dermatologist Dr. Grace Beltran said in an interview with GMA's “Balita Pilipinas” program on Tuesday.

She explained that a biopsy test she conducted yielded a result confirming the girl was suffering from an auto-immune disease called pyoderma gangrenosum.

“It is not a nakakatakot na sakit in the sense na nakakahawa or dapat magpanic ang mga tao... Yan ay isang rare skin problem na bihirang-bihira nating makita at medyo mahirap gamutin pero nagagamot naman,” Beltran explained.

She added that the disease may be related to internal problems such as inflammatory bowel disease or cancer.

“Pero I'm sure it is not leprosy,” she added.

Beltran also said the girl is not suffering from a drug reaction as claimed by the DOH.

“Akala nila in reaction. Kasi there's such a thing na leprosy in reaction. So pinatuloy pa rin [nila yung treatment kaya] lalo siyang gumrabe hanggat di na siya makatayo, hindi na siya makabangon,” she said.

According to Beltran, she treated the girl for eight months, during which the girl went from being bed-ridden to now being able to walk.

“Merong treatment pero kailangan din nating hanapin yung trigger kasi kung minsan nga may internal problems na related doon sa sakit sa balat. Kung magagamot natin yung internal problem baka masolve natin yung problem niya sa balat,” Beltran said. — Andrei Medina/BM, GMA News