The symptoms of the disease are as follows:
Mr. Bajandar's first warts appeared on his hands and feet when he was in his mid-teens, and the growths began to grow rapidly when he was in his early 20s. Due to this extreme growth, Mr. Bajandar was forced to quit his job as a rickshaw driver and he eventually became the subject of international news. The growths, which weighed 5 kilograms in total, became so problematic that he was unable to feed himself, take a drink, have a shower or brush his teeth by himself - the only thing he was able to do was scratch his neck. As a result, he is totally reliant on his 21-year-old wife, and their young daughter for help.
However, thanks to some ground-breaking surgery, Mr. Bajandar may have finally have been cured from this debilitating condition. Upon hearing about his illness, doctors from the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, despite never having tackled this problem before, kindly agreed to treat him free of charge at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Having lived with his condition for years, he began his treatment to remove the growths in February of 2016. Since then, he has undergone 16 painstaking procedures to restore his hands, and will undergo a few minor ones this year before he is released from hospital. During these 16 previous operations, the doctors carefully trimmed the bark-like structures from his hand using a laser - they burnt the tissue layer by layer being extremely careful not to destroy any major nerves.
Dr. Samata Lal Sen, the chief plastic surgeon in charge of curing Mr. Bajandar said that he is in great shape now and is able to eat and write using his own hands. The remaining surgeries are purely for cosmetic reasons as they need to perfect the shape of his hands.
It's not clear if Mr. Bajandar is completely cured of his condition as the experts are not sure whether his warts will grow back. However, if he is cured he will become the first person to ever be cured of this horrendous condition.
Speaking from his hospital bed Mr. Bajandar declared that he was extremely thankful for this life changing surgery - "I never thought I would ever be able to hold my kid with my hands. Now I feel so much better, I can hold my daughter in my lap and play with her. I can't wait to go back home. I hope the curse won't return again."
