Pangasinan, Philippines – Updates on Pangasinan’s flesh-eating disease include the clarification made by the Provincial Information Officer (PIO) about the news. It was revealed that the supposed to be infectious flesh-eating disease that could spread around the world is untrue. The flesh-eating disease was allegedly prophesied by a self-proclaimed local prophet.
According to reports, the first patient was a leper suffering from an adverse reaction to a drug, while the second patient has psoriasis, and they are reportedly being treated, to date.
Adverse reactions to drugs could vary from one person to another and may also depend upon the type of drug. This reaction maybe harmful or even life-threatening to the patient. In the case of the leper patient, the adverse reaction is understandably not ‘infectious’ per se, but the leprosy (Hansen’s disease) can be contagious when the causative agent Mycobacterium leprae, a bacilli, infects people through aerosol or person to person direct contact.
The incubation period could last from 9 months to 20 years, so there are instances that some people do not exhibit the condition even after years of exposure. Leprosy could cause skin lesions and papules, and coupled with the adverse drug reaction, it could have been mistaken as the rare flesh-eating disease, called necrotizing fasciitis.
On the other hand, psoriasis (“suh-RY-uh-sus”) is characterized by skin flaking and hardening that could cause red patches due to an exaggerated reaction of the immune system. It is not contagious, though.
So the news that Netizens have been fed are untrue. It is a hoax. There is no flesh-eating disease in Pangasinan that could infect the whole globe.
