VietNamNet Bridge – Muong Chieng, a remote village in the northern province of Hoa Binh, is suddenly known because of a strange disease, which cannot cured by both western and oriental medicines.

Around ten children in Muong Chieng have committed the disease. Some have died while some are deformed. Their parents have tried their best to cure the disease, but now they can only close their eyes to not see their children distorted by pains.

“What did we do to be punished by the God like this? All of my children are not complete humans,” lamented Mr. Xa Van Minh, 62.

Minh used to be a soldier. After the country’s reunification in 1975, he got married with a girl in the same commune. The couple was very happy to have the first child one year later. He named his son Xa Van Khoa.

When the boy was one month old, strange red spots appeared on the boy’s face. Minh brought the baby to many hospitals, but doctors could not cure. At the age of three, the boy’s face looked fearfully, with a lot of pimples and scars.

Neighbors were very scared of the boy and they did not dare to visit Minh’s home. Some people even said that Minh and his wife delivered a demon.

The second son, Xa Van Khe was born in his parents’ fear. The boy was very nice and lovely. But like his brother, red spots began appearing on his face when he reached one month old. Khe died at the age of three while Khoa was dead at 7 years old.

The couple was broken hearted but they desired to have children. They continued to lay hope on the third and the fourth children, but they still suffer that strange disease. Only the last son does commit that disease yet.

Minh said he did not remember the accurate age of his illed sons – Man and Nam. Feeling complex of their ugly outwards, Man and Nam have hidden themselves at home or go to the forest alone.

Mr. Xa Van Quan’s second child also commits this strange disease. Asking him about the child, Quan said sadly: “I do not know where he is now. When he was small, I and my wife assigned each other to guard him whenever pain ill-treated him. But now, whenever he felt painful, he scampered into the forest. He runs as fast as a squirrel. When he suffers from violent pains, he can run anywhere. Sometimes we found him in the market, other times at stream or on the top of a tree.”

Quan said the boy, named Tam, was born in 1997. When he was several months old, red spots began appearing on his face. The more he grew up, the worse the disease. His skin has been gradually eroded by these spots, which get bigger and deeper. On hot days, sweat makes the boy very painful. Fishy smell emits very strongly.

Whenever the boy is distorted by the disease, he wails fiercely. Being afraid of the boy to jump to the river or do wrong things when he is painful, Quan confined him into a cage but he had to release the boy because the boy struggled violently.

The boy often hides himself at deserted locations because he is driven away by others. He is never at home. Whenever they miss their son, Quan and his wife look for and bring him home.

Xa Van Hiep is over 20 years old but he rarely leaves his home, and he always wears T-shirt with long sleeves to hide his deformed body.

Hiep hoped to live like kids of the same age when he was treated at the National Dermatology Hospital in Hanoi last year. After three months at the hospital, Hiep returned home with ulceration.

Hiep’s return stamped out the hope of families whose children commit the same disease. They saw Hiep out with great hopes. Now these parents can only see their children in violent pains and do not know when they will die.

BDVN