Rahul, the name of the boy came to headlines when he was first admitted at Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital on Thursday. The boy was admitted at the hospital early August 2013 and has been the cover story on many news resources in the Asian countries and around the world. The body is a native of Tindivanam, Tamil Nadu and according to doctors; he is believed to be suffering from a rare medical condition known as Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Close to over a dozen of tests have been performed on the baby to establish the functions of the body but the results from the tests appear normal. Tests of the kidney and liver are normal and X-rays conducted do not indicate any damage to the bones. Medical experts are also suspecting that this could be a hoax and the child may have suffered a burn out of a child abuse.
However, it is early to rule out the possibility of the Spontaneous Human Combustion condition and doctors are performing more tests. Doctors are also examining if there are any genetic makeup that could have triggered this condition. Apparently, there is no specific cure for this condition and what doctors are doing is treating the symptoms as any other burn incident. The child was admitted to the hospital with 10 degree burns on the body owing to the said condition.
The boy is undergoing treatment at the Chennai hospital facility and is in the intensive care unit of the Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital. According to Dr R Narayana Babu who is the head of the paediatrics department, Kilpauk Medical College, when a patient suffers from Spontaneous Human Combustion, "The body burns spontaneously due to combustible gases emitting from the patient's body, without any external source of ignition,"
Dr R Narayana further elaborated that "Clothes and other things nearby that are inflammable may also catch fire." The boy is receiving further test analysis such as urine and sweat to check for any toxic substances that could cause the condition. A biopsy of the boy’s skin is scheduled to be done after he recovers from the burns in order to shed some more light on this mysterious condition.
According to the parents Rajeswari and Karna, baby Rahul first caught fire close to four times since his birth. The first fire incident occurred nine days following his birth. Baby Rahul’s father, Karnan said that he did not believe what doctors were telling him because he saw the boy catch fire with his own eyes. As at now, the baby Rahul is receiving treatment for burns with administration of antibiotics.
The Spontaneous human combustion theory has been dished by many medical experts citing that the body cannot catch fire on its own without any external source. However, there have been over 200 cases cited in the past 300 years for possible Spontaneous Human Combustion condition. Some of the natural explanations to the cause of this rare condition are that the intestinal conversion of food into methane can happen through methanogens.
When methane is released through skin pores, fire may be triggered by other sources like static electricity of silk clothes. Concentrated gas and raised blood alcohol may also cause ignition to occur. In February 2013, a 65-year-old man from Muldrow, Okla is believed to have passed away from Spontaneous human combustion where his body was found burnt without any possible course of fire by an external source.
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