A two-year-old baby from India suffers from premature puberty

A two—year-old baby from India has fully developed genitals covered with hair, and he suffers from painful erections due to a rare disease - premature puberty.

Due to his illness, Arsh Akhtar from Delhi reached puberty when he was 18 months old. Although he showed signs of premature puberty at the age of just six months, his father, 32-year-old Wasim Akhtar, and mother, 23-year-old Shabnam Parvin, ignored the symptoms, thinking that he was just a big boy.

(10 photos in total)

Source: Daily Mail

"He's growing in an unnatural way," his mother says. — At four months old, he looked like a one-year-old child, and when he turned one, he was like his three-year-old cousin. We thought he was developing faster than other children. But our anxiety increased when we noticed that he was growing pubic hair and genitals at the age of about 18 months."

"Arsh is our first child, so we didn't have much knowledge, but my mother—in—law raised several children, and she advised us to see a doctor," says Shabnam. By the time the child was brought to the doctor, Arsh had already grown hair on his face and body, he began to show aggressive and violent behavior, experienced "sexual needs" and suffered from painful erections.

Wasim, the owner of an Internet cafe who earns about $ 150 a month, said that he went to several state hospitals for advice, but they could not help him anywhere. Then the couple signed up for a doctor at the Max Hospital private clinic in Delhi, despite the fact that the prices there were higher than they could afford. The baby's father even applied to the insurance company, but they refused to cover the costs.

"We had no choice, I had to get money to start treating Arsh in a private clinic," he says. — My son's illness was getting more serious, and I needed to show him to a good doctor. State polyclinics could not deal with our case. I had to get into the family savings."

Dr. Vaishahi Rustagi, a pediatric endocrinologist and hormone specialist at Max Hospital Clinic, said: "When the boy came to see me six months ago, he had an unusually high level of testosterone. As tall as a 25-year-old man. It is a great misfortune that all this happens to him at such an early age. He couldn't understand what was going on and behaved violently and aggressively."

In November last year, after all the necessary tests, Dr. Rustagi began treatment with injectable hormone-blocking drugs. At first, Arshu was injected with medications every month, but now it only needs to be done once every three months. "We thought that his disease could be the cause of the tumor, but the tests showed that there is no tumor," Dr. Rustagi notes.

"This is a very rare case, because the child suffers from hormonal disorders without any reason. I have never seen such cases in my practice before. Brain activity in such cases begins almost ten years earlier than usual, which is why the pituitary gland, which affects the organs of the body, is also activated."

"In such cases, immediate treatment is needed. If you don't start treating it quickly, the disease leads to other problems, such as painful erections, traumatizing the child and family, rejection by peers, behavioral deviations and psychological problems." The doctor added that if the child had not been treated before the age of five, the disease could have slowed down his growth, and he could have remained no taller than 90 cm.

Over the past six months, Arsh's condition has improved significantly, and his genitals have decreased in size. Dr. Rustagi noted that the problems with erection have also disappeared, but doctors recommend continuing treatment until the boy turns at least 11 years old.

"He is still undergoing hormone therapy. We can only control testosterone levels, but as soon as we stop doing this, the problem will reappear," added Dr. Rustagi. "Therefore, ideally, we should continue treatment until he reaches the present puberty age." The doctor stressed that this is a very rare disease — one case per 100 thousand people, and among boys aged 8 to 10 years — two cases per 100 thousand people.

Wasim is concerned about the costs of his son's treatment, since his monthly income does not cover the cost of even one injection. He says, "I used my savings to treat him. One injection costs 11 thousand rupees ($ 160), which is more than I earn per month. I am worried about his future, because I am not sure if I will be able to pay for his treatment in the long term. I can only hope that his health will improve and he will get better."