24-year old skeleton man to be treated

A young Saudi man who has lost most of his weight and become like a skeleton after he was struck by a mystery disease has finally got the attention of the Gulf Kingdom’s health authorities, who decided to send him a medical team to study his case and prepare for his treatment.

Salman is nearly 24 years old but the disease appeared to have turned his age into a riddle-- for he looks a little boy and at the same time an old man.

Salman was the sole supporter of his ageing mother before he fell prey to the unknown disease that has left him bed ridden at a small hospital in the southern town of Abha for several months.

Newspapers said authorities decided to act after they published Salman’s picture showing him looking like a ghost or a skeleton with his skin tarnished by spots and bruises. The picture showed his eyes half closed and staring nowhere as if to avoid the flashing cameras of the photo journalists.

Sharq Arabic language daily said a well-known consultant would head a medical team from a specialized hospital in the Kingdom to visit Salman and examine him before deciding on the treatment process.

It said the team had already been ordered by head of the health department Dr Ibrahim bin Suleiman to “evaluate Salman’s case and decide on the course of treatment at a specialized hospital.”

“Dr Suleiman’s move came in response to the picture and the report about Salman published in the Saudi media,” it said.

Doctors at the local hospital told his mother that Salman needs to be transferred to a specialized hospital to diagnose his disease and find a treatment. But his mother is still objecting to his transfer on the grounds she is “much worried about him.”

The boy is the only male in the family after the death of his father. His five sisters have been married and live far away from their village although one of them often comes to help his mother looking after him.

“He is suffering from a rare disease that has caused him general weakness and continuous loss of weight…sometimes his temperature goes up sharply while he gets infections from time to time,” Sabq said, quoting Saeed Al Naqeer, information director at the department of health.

Earlier story: Mystery disease transforms young boy into a skeleton

A Saudi newspaper on Thursday published a picture of a boy which it said was reduced almost to a skeleton. The boy is not from famine-hit Africa but from Saudi Arabia, the world’s oil superpower.

Sabq Arabic language daily did not specify the age of the Salman, who it said has been bed-ridden at a hospital in the southern town of Abha.

Doctors told his aging mother that Salman needs to be transferred to a specialized hospital to diagnose his disease and find a treatment. But his mother is still objecting to his transfer on the grounds she is “much worried about him.”

The boy is the only male in the family after the death of his father. His five sisters have been married and live far away from their village although one of them often comes to help his mother looking after him.

“He is suffering from a rare disease that has caused him general weakness and continuous loss of weight…sometimes his temperature goes up sharply while he gets infections from time to time,” Sabq said, quoting Saeed Al Naqeer, information director at the department of health.

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