Rahul,
was admitted for treatment of ten degree burns at an intensive care
unit in Chennai, India last week, and doctors at the hospital say he
suffers from 'spontaneous human combustion'. Medical
staff alleges that - for the fourth time in his short life - Rahul has
burst into flames with no external source of ignition. According to doctors Rahul may have caught fire due to the excretion of gases through his skin, which has led to him suffering burns on his chest and head.
‘The
baby is stable and treatment is on for burn injuries and scars.
Life-saving support systems are there for Rahul in the intensive care
unit,’ said R. Narayana Babu, head of paediatrics at the hospital.
He told IBN Live that the baby will be under observation and may be discharged after two weeks depending on his condition. Rahul, from Villupuram, an area 100miles from Chennai, suffered the first incident when he was just nine days old. People thought I set him on fire deliberately,’ his mother, Rajeswari told IBN Live.
According to the parents, their community ostracized them, and
Rahul’s father, a farm worker, says they have lost everything as a
result of his son's condition. Rajeswari alleges
that Rahul has suffered four episodes of spontaneous fire and suffered
burn injuries, the last incident taking place last month.
However,
doctors at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai treating Rahul
say they only have the mother's version of events to go on as the baby
boy does not have any medical records. 'The baby has to be carefully observed. We
have to investigate whether the ailment is genetic,' Prof. R. Jayachandran of the department of pediatrics at Kilpauk Medical College Hospital said.
'We will carry out
tests to find out the kind of gases generated by the baby’.' Not all believe the mother's story of self-combustion.
'Spontaneous Human Combustion-syndrome is a hoax theory,' the hospital's burns specialist Dr J Jagan Mohan told The Times of India. 'A baby catching fire spontaneously is not possible. 'Alcoholics have a very small percentage of alcohol secreted in their sweat but even that wouldn't generate a fire.' Until a proper diagnosis is made, Rahul is given treatment that is only symptomatic, with the administration of antibiotics.