Tell me more ×
Skeptics Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for scientific skepticism. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 8 down vote favorite

I found a video on YouTube proclaiming to be showing the world's largest scrotum. [Caution: Video contains disturbing images and may be not safe for work settings.]

After searching online, I can't find news articles nor otherwise explaining how this would happen or verifying if this is real.

Is the video real? And if so, what could have caused this condition?

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 8 down vote accepted

Looks to me like the classic elephantiasis sufferer.

Wikipedia has more detail on the disease itself. It sounds unverified what the final cause of the thickening skin is:

However, the disease itself is a result of a complex interplay between several factors: the worm, the symbiotic Wolbachia bacteria within the worm, the host’s immune response, and the numerous opportunistic infections and disorders that arise.

share|improve this answer
That's a terrible disease. +1 for good information included with an answer that makes sense. – Randolf Richardson Jul 20 '11 at 17:20
2  
I have removed an photograph image. It was possibly not safe-for-work; I didn't want to censor it, but merely place it behind a link. However, the source for the image was not cited, and there was no credit to the original copyright owner, so I was unable to do so. I will raise a meta-question on the topic because I don't want to be seen as censoring medical images. – Oddthinking♦ Jul 21 '11 at 1:36
Good call @Oddthinking. My apologies. – Rory Alsop Jul 21 '11 at 7:15
No problems, Rory. If you have a link for the original image, we could put that back in there (with a NSFW warning) so interested people can confirm that your diagnosis is plausible. – Oddthinking♦ Jul 21 '11 at 10:34
+1 Another possibility is Hydrocele Testis though I'm unsure if they can grow that large. – coleopterist Oct 25 '12 at 18:34

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.