A normal child, only ageing fast
He takes food on his own and plays with others. He gets amused when pets pass by him. His behaviour and sense is also like many other children of his age.
But what separates him from them is his condition. The four-year-old Bayezid Hossian of Magura looks like an 80-year-old man. He is diagnosed with premature ageing condition progeria.
Bayezid with his swollen face, wrinkled skin, hollow eyes, aching joints and other old-age signs including small jaw, was admitted to the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) yesterday around 8:00am.
He was initially diagnosed with progeria by a five-member medical team of Magura Sadar Hospital (MSH), which later suggested sending him to DMCH for treatment and research by specialists.
A six-member medical board will be formed at the institute today to examine and treat the boy, said Dr Samanta Lal Sen, the institute's chief coordinator.
Nothing can be said before they start treating him, he added.
Bayezid's mother Tripti Khatun and father Lablu Shikder earlier said their son was born four years ago with the face resembling that of an elderly man.
He got all the teeth within nine months of his birth, but learnt to walk very late, at the age of three-and-a-half years, mentioned Lablu.
He can also recognise alphabet and his memory is good too, added his mother Tripti hoping to see her son's physical condition become normal.
Tripti said, "Every day around 20 to 50 people from nearby localities throng our home to see the boy. Here [DMCH] too, many people are coming to see him."
The signs of old age are getting even clearer day by day, added the parents, who consulted different physicians for his treatment, but to no avail owing to a lack of money.
Lablu told The Daily Star that doctors at Magura Sadar Hospital (MSH) referred his only child to DMCH, adding that they came to the hospital accordingly with the hope that their son would be cured.
They have been given a cabin free of charge and the boy will be treated for free too, said Sen.
"Bayezid was born at Magura Maternity Hospital in a normal delivery in May, 2012 with wrinkled skin. But ultrasonography reports revealed that the fetus was a boy and a normal one," added his father.
They took him first to MSH and then to Faridpur Sadar Hospital, where he had been treated by child specialists, who assured them that their son would gradually become normal, added Lablu, who already spent over Tk 4 lakh and sold 20 decimals of land and four cows to meet his son's treatment costs.
He further said that Bayezid's physical condition improved slightly then and that he was also treated by late child specialist Dr MS Akbar, also an Awami League lawmaker from a Magura constituency.
Seeing him yesterday, Dr Sen, however, said they were yet to decide on the course of treatment.
Bayezid was brought to DMCH in line with suggestions of Hedayet Ali, an assistant professor of the institute, Sen mentioned, adding, "A facelift surgery may be done on him if it deems necessary."
Now, the boy is being attended by his parents and maternal grandfather Mashiur Rahman at the hospital cabin.
The word progeria comes from the Greek progeros meaning prematurely old. It is a rare genetic condition that accelerates ageing in children and occurs in one per 8 million live births.
Only a few people around the world could exceed 13 years of age suffering from this condition.
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