Rare werewolf syndrome

We have all familiar with the werewolf legends, When the full moon appears, a man is transformed into a hairy beast and acquires awesome powers. There are humans that live among us that has excessive body hairs that are nicknamed 'werewolves'.

Hypertrichosis or werewolf syndrome is a medical term referring to a condition of excessive body hair. It can be affecting most of the torso and limbs, or an area of skin. It may be mild or severe. Usually, the term is used to refer to an above-average amount of normal body hair that is unwanted and is an aspect of human variability.

For Danny Ramos Gomez, in his early 20's, his body starts to produce an abnormal amount of hair everywhere. Danny's 26-year-old brother Larry also has hypertrichosis. The brothers are known for their daredevil feats in a Mexican circus. Except for his excessive hair, Danny is by all other accounts normal. He plays football, video games and go to movies like everyone else, except what you see on his face, that's all. But there are still people who view him as a freak.

Children are Danny's greatest fans. During his performances, he mesmerizes them with his skills as much as his appearance. One of his youngest spectators, a little girl named Gaby, said Danny deserves to be respected; she said he's not an animal, he's a human. "They shouldn't call him a wolf man because then they stop treating him like a person."

Geneticist Dr. Luis Figuera, an expert in hypertrichosis at Mexico's Center for Biomedical Research, has studied people with the condition for more than 20 years. "Hypertrichosis has no connection with the moon or any connection with wolves," Figuera said. Figuera's research on why his patients can't stop growing hair could one day help those who can't grow it at all. "If we could identify the factor, or the reason why hair grows beyond what is expected, it would be another step into understanding and perhaps help solve the problem of baldness," Figuera said.

"This kind of hypertrichosis as shown in this family is very rare. As far as I know, there are two or three families in the world born with it" said Figuera.
"We believe that this is a gene which was functioning a long time ago in the evolution of man when primates were becoming men".

According to Figuera, as humans evolved, certain genes that were unnecessary for survival mutated and were turned off. Figuera believes that, in Danny's family, the gene for hypertrichosis was somehow accidently turned back on.

In Danny's family, there are at least five generations with this problem. 20 affected persons in the family, including men and women. Danny's grandmother does not have hypertrichosis, but she carries the mutation and passed it on to her children.

Genetic research has linked the condition to the X chromosome. That means if a woman carries the gene, she has a 50-50 chance of passing it on to her offspring, whether she has a boy or a girl. If a male carries the gene, 100 percent of his female children will be affected, but none of his sons.

Source : abcnews.go.com

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