Not all diseases have been completely understood by now

Dec 16, 2008 14:57 GMT  ·  By
Medicine still has a long way to go before accounting for all the things that can go wrong with the human body
   Medicine still has a long way to go before accounting for all the things that can go wrong with the human body

While medicine and our understanding of the human body have evolved constantly for the past centuries, there are still the occasional medical conditions that leave even the most trained professional speechless. Here are a few of them, in a top 7 put together by New Scientist.

Water allergy – medically known as aquagenic urticaria – is a condition that affects only very few people worldwide. It manifests through violent reactions to water, but not when people drink it, but when it’s placed on their skin. This means that bathing or showering is their worst nightmare, as moments after they touch the substance, their skin erupts in tens of small red weals.

Chimeric people – are split into two groups, depending on gender. While men may never know they have the condition, which doesn't affect them at all, women might have a surprise when they get themselves and their babies clinically tested, and find out that they are not the children's mothers. This can be explained by the fact that the women's genetic information is a mixture from twins who fused together in their mothers' wombs.

Foreign Accent Syndrome – is a fairly rare encounter, and it occurs when a person suffers an accident that damages a certain part of his or her brain. That person may start talking with an accent from across the globe, to which he or she has never been exposed. Researchers currently believe that the accent only exists in the ears of those who listen, as their brain struggles to understand formerly-familiar speech patterns, but which now sound foreign.

Morgellons disease – is an affliction that cannot be currently explained. People suffering from it have the feeling that there are fibers growing out of itchy lesions in their skin, and feel like they have a parasite living under their epidermis. Delusional parasitosis is the name doctors give it, a mental disorder that makes people think they are infested, though the evidence for their claim couldn't be further from the truth. Some physicians have begun taking an interest in the disease, following numerous reports.

The Madness of King George – history tells that the British King had uncontrollable mental derangement episodes, when he went crazy and needed to be restrained. After analyzing a sample of his hair, geneticists established that he suffered from porphyria, a genetic defect that was made worse by ... arsenic. Historians believe that the drugs he was taking might have been contaminated.

Putrid Finger – in 1996, a researcher published a report, seeking help about a patient of his, whose finger smelled awful, after the man had pricked it in a chicken bone. The doctor could not find any infection, but the odor was simply unbearable, even in large rooms. Eventually, in a few years, the smell disappeared on its own, but its cause remained a mystery to this day.

Tree Man – the case has ravaged the perception that the medical community had on the way the human body can be deformed. A man from West Java was discovered to have arms and feet resembling those of a tree, and no one knew why. The poor man was immobilized, but now researchers know what happened. Apparently, the human papilloma virus, which triggers cancer, was responsible for his condition. It spiraled out of control and warts took over the man's arms and feet.