'Flesh-eating disease' in Pangasinan not leprosy, says girl's doctor

After the alleged unknown "flesh-eating disease" in Pangasinan was reported on television Monday night, the province's health office immediately went to look at the persons with the said illness. On Tuesday, they have eased everyone's worries by saying the disease is not new and unknown. They diagnosed the young woman with wounds all over her face and body as having leprosy, and the young man was diagnosed with a severe case of psoriasis.

However, dermatologist Dr. Grace Beltran, the doctor that treated the young woman, said otherwise. In an interview, she questioned how they could easily say it is leprosy just by looking at it?

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

According to the doctor, the woman is suffering from an auto-immune disease called pyoderma gangrenosum, which she described as rare and hard to treat, but can be actually be cured. She also added that people should not be scared because it is not infectious.

The young woman was bedridden when Beltran started treating her. After eight months, she can already walk.

The doctor also said pyoderma gangrenosum could be triggered by internal problems like cancer or inflammatory bowel disease. She said the trigger should be determined and cured as it may also heal the patient's pyoderma gangrenosum.

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