Apligraf Used to Treat Infant with Fatal Skin Disease

A bio-engineered skin graft product has been successful so
far in alleviating an 8-week-old girlÂ’s potentially fatal skin disease.

The disease is called Dowling
Meara disease, and though it only affects about 1,000 Americans it is
particularly hideous. The skin cells of those with the disease lack the
ability to produce cells to hold the skin together. The result is usually
severe blistering at the slightest touch accompanied by attendant infections.
The infant in this case, Tori, was born with portions of her body completely
raw.

Doctors, however, are using
Apligraf to treat the newborn and so far the results are promising. Apligraf,
approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 1998, is a synthetic
skin made from cells from the foreskins of human infants and bovine collagen.

In ToriÂ’s case, doctors have
applied the product to over 40 percent of her body and so far most of
the treated areas donÂ’t have blister or scarring.

“We hope this skin will
take over and teach the babyÂ’s skin cells to behave normally,” Dr.
William Eaglstein told the Associated Press.

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