Friend of a friend got Vasculitis (Photos under spoilers)

[Jay]

A friend of a friend of mine traveled to Vietnam and got some kind of skin rash. It started as red spots and turned into one of the most grotesque things I've ever seen. He went to UCLA medical (top 5) and apparently they couldn't identify it and prescribed him prednisone steroids which exacerbated his condition. Finally it was identified as Henoch-Schönlein Purpura vasculitis. Photos.

Seriously this is pretty gross. Warning for those who don't have a strong stomach. For a second, a few people thought he might have gotten bubonic plague. This is really really really bad. Just thought I'd share for the scientifically curious people here.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Spoiler for :

Spoiler for :

[leah]

YAK YAK YAK.

is he ok now?

also: YAK

[brinstar]

BRINSTAR rolls a saving throw against Tempting Spoiler photos... 20!
BRINSTAR is protected.

[Jay]

Yeah they had some dermotologists come in, diagnose it and are treating it. He says he feels immensely better compared to feeling like his body was on fire before.

[Harrison]

There isn't much on this earth in picture form that can make me ill.

That pair of pictures did it.

[Drem]

you should put this on /r/wtf

PS: whoa

[Gypsiyee]

sweet jesus..

that looks like it could scar pretty badly, yea? any idea how he got it? I mean I would think that if he got it from a specific region, he would've seen others that were infected too..?

[Jay]

No idea and even the idea that he got it while he was in Vietnam is speculative at best. All we know was he was in Vietnam, came back, had rashes, then rashes turned into that. He saw multiple doctors and dermatologists before getting a diagnosis.

[Jay]

you should put this on /r/wtf

PS: whoa

It's actually already on Reddit if you google "Marn disease".

[Gypsiyee]

Do you know if it's contagious? Shit looks like it needs to be quarantined.

[Arlos]

Vasculitis (according to Google, anyway) is more an auto-immune situation where the body's defenses against disease start attacking the linings of its own blood vessels. The vessels get inflamed and have local breakages. That's what causes his skin to look like that. The inflamed vessels cause the raised parts, while the breakages lead to bleeding under the skin, resulting in bruises, etc. From that picture, it looks like some of the bleeding happened close enough to the surface to cause external bleeding, which results in all the scabs and continued "oozing" as the damaged blood vessels keep leaking.

From what I've read, most of the time it's unclear what causes the situation to start. It could be an infection of some kind (Hepatitis C is mentioned, but I doubt he has that or Jay would've mentioned it), but it could just as easily be an allergic reaction to something. That's what I'd bet in this case, since it started while he was in a foreign country. Probably something there (maybe even a mosquito bite) sent his immune system haywire.

-Arlos

[Jay]

It is not contagious. Afaik, he doesn't have any hep c or anything.