Sleepy Hollow: Kazakhstan's mystery sleeping sickness
Village evacuated as doctors are baffled by residents who fall asleep for days at a time
Residents of a small village in northern Kazakhstan dubbed "Sleepy Hollow" are being evacuated after scientists failed to determine the cause of a long-running "sleeping sickness".
More than a tenth of Kalachi's population has succumbed to the mystery illness, with residents suddenly falling asleep in the middle of the day – sometimes for up to week, according to RT.
Doctors and scientists, including virologists, radiologists, and toxicologists have travelled to the region to attempt to solve the mystery. They have taken soil, air and water samples as well as testing the patients' blood, hair and nails, and have excluded viral and bacterial infections. Narcolepsy has also been ruled out, because of the scale of the illness, but doctors appear no closer to determining its cause.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The first case was recorded in March 2013 and waves of the illness continue to be reported. Symptoms include hallucinations – one young boy says he saw snakes and worms in his bed, eating his arms – as well as memory loss, dizziness, and nausea.
"When the patient wakes up, he will remember nothing," Dr Kabdrashit Almagambetov told The Siberian Times. "The story is one and the same each time – weakness, slow reactions, then fast asleep."
Locals say they are afraid that one day they will fall asleep and never wake up again. "The sleep is so deep that some locals fear an old man they assumed was dead could have been buried alive," reports Vice.
The symptoms do not fit any known diseases – so what could be causing the illness? Here are some of the leading suggestions:
Carbon monoxide
The poisonous gas has no smell or taste and is considered to be the most likely cause of the illness – at least according to officials in Kazakhstan.
"Carbon monoxide is definitely a factor," said Sergei Lukashenko, the director of Kazakhstan's National Nuclear Center's Radiation Safety and Ecology Institute. "But I can't tell you whether this is the main and vital factor." His team suspects that the village is in a "peculiar" geographic location, where the weather frequently forces chimney smoke "to go down instead of up".
However, other dispute this, as the illness can strike when people are outside or at work, away from their homes. Also, "carbon monoxide poisoning doesn't just make you fall down and go to sleep," said Professor Andrew Stolbach, the head of toxicology at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"You can have a big enough concentration at one spot [to knock someone out immediately]," Stolbach admits. "But if it's big enough to knock you out [that quickly], you'd be in a coma."
Radon gas
Radon, a colourless, odourless radioactive gas formed by uranium decay, is another leading theory. Some suspect the gas is being emitted from an old Soviet uranium mine in the nearby area of Krasnogorsk, which has been abandoned for over two decades. But this theory has also been repeatedly rejected as the symptoms don't match up with radiation poisoning. "I am positive this is not radon," said Lukashenko
Psychogenic illness
Mass hysteria is another option being considered by some. "It's common whenever you have [something] difficult to understand, [something] that you can't make a diagnosis for, to [think] maybe it's all in the mind," Dr Kevin Fong told the BBC. "Occasionally that's true, but in medicine, you never, ever, ever make that diagnosis without having excluded everything else first."
Conspiracy theories
In the absence of any concrete evidence, some locals have turned to conspiracy theories such as alien viruses and government experimentation, but officials are appealing for calm and vow to continue the search for a logical, scientific explanation.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Why is Tesla stumbling?
In the Spotlight More competition, confusion about the future and a giant pay package for Elon Musk
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
How Taylor Swift changed copyright negotiations in music
under the radar The success of Taylor's Version rerecordings has put new pressure on record labels
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Job scams are increasingly common. Here's what to look out for.
The Explainer You should never pay for an application or give out your personal info before being hired
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Nigeria's worsening rate of maternal mortality
Under the radar Economic crisis is making hospitals unaffordable, with women increasingly not receiving the care they need
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
How happy is Finland really?
Today's Big Question Nordic nation tops global happiness survey for seventh year in a row with 'focus on contentment over joy'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
How Tehran became the world's nose job capital
Under the radar Iranian doctors raise alarm over low costs, weak regulation and online influence of 'Western beauty standards'
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Africa's renewed battle against female genital mutilation
Under the radar Campaigners call for ban in Sierra Leone after deaths of three girls as coast-to-coast convoy prepares to depart
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Argentina: the therapy capital of the world
Under the radar Buenos Aires natives go hungry to pay for psychoanalysis, amid growing instability, anxiety – and societal acceptance
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Does declining birth rate spell doom for Britain?
Today's Big Question Ageing population puts pressure on welfare state, economy and fabric of society, while fertility is rising on populist agendas
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
How a new blood test could revolutionise sepsis diagnosis
The Explainer Early results from ongoing trial suggest faster identification of deadly condition is possible
By The Week Staff Published