Wart seems to be the problem? The very strange papillomavirus

By Ruth D’Alessandro, The Wildlife Gardener The Wildlife Gardener has a verruca. At last, after four consultations with, variously, a GP, a chiropodist and a podiatric surgeon, the shard-of-glass-like lesion on my left foot that has had me hobbling round the Wildlife Garden all summer has been finally diagnosed as a simple plantar wart, caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).

There are various ways I could have it removed: freezing (brrr), excision (ouch & scar) or leaving it to go away on its own (hobble, hobble). I suggested to the podiatric surgeon that before he try any of these, I gave a traditional herbal remedy a try: tincture of Thuja occidentalis (white cedar). I expected him to fall off his chair laughing at such witchcraft, but he was wholly supportive and expected it to work. I’ve used it successfully to remove a small facial wart before, so I thought I would try it. So, night and morning I dab some Thuja tincture on my verruca, cover it with a plaster and once a week I prod at it with a no.11 scalpel blade. Certainly the pain has reduced and the corn-like hard skin is not growing back. I shall report back whether this natural remedy is a complete success or not so that naturenet readers can end verruca misery forever. As is always the way when you have a medical condition, you notice it spontaneously appearing in the science pages. So I was intrigued by a story that appeared in The Telegraph online and New Scientist this week:

An Indonesian fisherman who feared that he would be killed by tree-like growths covering his body has been given hope of recovery by an American doctor – and Vitamin A. Dede, now 35, baffled medical experts when warty “roots” began growing out of his arms and feet after he cut his knee in a teenage accident.

The story concludes happily that the unfortunate Mr Dede has the human papillomavirus, a cousin of the one in my foot, which his faulty immune system has been unable to contain. It should be treatable with Vitamin A, giving him back at least some normal use of his hands and feet. The wart story then got even stranger. While researching this extreme form of HPV I came across a discussion forum about someone with a similar condition to Mr Dede, posted before he was diagnosed. One suggestion was that it looked like the rabbit Shope Papillomavirus (SPV). Rabbits with this bizarre disease may be the origin of the jackalope, an American mythical beast with a rabbit’s body and an antelope’s horns. Jackalopes appear throughout American fiction (even in ‘Boundin‘, a Pixar short film). Fictional jackalopes are jolly, carefree characters, a far cry from real rabbits with SPV who eventually starve to death because the warty protuberances prevent them from feeding. So what a strange medical odyssey the human papillomavirus has led the Wildlife Gardener on this week. From a verruca in Surrey to the Tree Man of Indonesia, to the boundin’ jackalopes of the US prairies. And perhaps the simplest of cures: Thuja tincture and Vitamin A. Watch this space.