| Show 11w WORLD Silt I Ake Tribune Sunday It4niir I A7 !XI Experts baffled by mysterious 'nodding' disease Affliction: Young victims nod at the sight of food followed by seizures retardation and death 4 1 $ t BY EMMA Ross TheAmonald Pry " Sudan — Martha Halim lives in fear She is terrified of the moon's phases afraid of eating and fearful of fires rivers and ponds She is stricken with mysterious seizures that frighten her from eating Her parents have tried everything She has been to a hospital seen a Western doctor and taken drugs The has even vis- ited witch doctors She followed the advice of one crawling through a termite mound while her parents slit the throat of a goal She gives a grim description of what it's like when her disease overpowers her "When it comes it looks like a black cloud but in the shape of a human" said Martha "That's all I know At the end I find myself on the floor" Martha suffers from a strange affliction called "nodding syndrome" apparently unique to southern Sudan Its young victims tend to nod vigorously at the sight of food The condition often progresses to severe seizures Mental retardation and death : Martha fell into a fire last year when she had a seizure while cooking Her right leg is disfigured by a severe burn from knee to foot she protected it with a Wiled beige rag : Her father Neen Majak says he has nearly given up hope The affliction which has been found in about 300 children so far baffles experts The World Health Organization began investigating it about two years ago around a year after Martha's symptom first appeared Peter Spencer an American neurotoxicologist who has investigated the condition for WHO encountered another 13- year-ol- d girl with a bizarre variation of the illness : "I was able to demonstrate with her that she was a regular nedder with local food and by - KACNGUAN '41‘ "Nsa-- - C 2) cannot be ruled out although it Is not a leading suspicion is the disease could have come from eating monkeys Ebola can be spread to humans by chimpanzees AIDS also made its way from primates to humans Spencer and other investigators believe nodding syndrome could be connected to river blindness a disease transmitted by the blackfly which is particularly widespread in southern found no obvious envirutimental causes Ile woulchft rtlIe out a food connection but helsa id it Is unlikely -What was striking 16 that the majority of the population that is affected by this disease in southern Sudan has a different lifestyle from the itinerant Dinka people who are sort of herders They are not affected by this disease" he said Spencer said one theory that i : Sudan Martha and several other members of her family are afflicted Unraveling the mystery of nodding syndrome is a question of money and time Spencer said "If we're smart we will unravel it We won't let it burn on like we did IIIV" he said "You just cannot imagine a greater disaster for a community than their children being hit in this way" i o GALLERIES FURNITURE anti-epilept- c:1444 "There are a good many people who desire in their homes a certain sturdy elegance good construction good craftsmanship beautiful Gustav Stick ley 'N 1 ' and durable furniture" lines right s t I -- k ' 1 NI Iv1 ly 4 - proud to present a seminar with is Forsey's ' 4 - 1 NlooRt Ptr I Director of Education and I Corporate Historian for twiattiorti i' Martha Halim13 shown with her siblings suffers from a disease afflicting children in Sudan She has sought help from a Western doctor — witch doctors and drugs nothing has helped her t 4 --i 1 tf t goat and a red hen and make a tunnel in a termite hill" Majak said -- She crawled through the hole back and forth three times Then we had to kill the goat and the hen in sacrifice" "You can consider het a dead person because she is not going to marry and she is going to die of this disease" her father says "If this treatment doesn't work then all I can do is wait to let the child die" Experts say a few children recover Doctors with WHO think the disease may be related to a disorder seen in Uganda called which Nakalanga syndrome also has symptoms of convulsions stunted growth and sometimes nodding Spencers investigation has contrast she did not nod when eating a variety of American food — candy bars or whatever It was absolutely staggering" he said As she sits on a mat with her parents under the shade of a tree beside their mud huts Martha says no treatment has helped her healer traditional One claimed that Martha's aunt who was killed by lightning a few years ago had bewitched the girL Following his advice the family held a ceremony attended by the entire village and sacrificed a sheep Recently another traditional healer told the family to take the girl into the forest to wash the bad spirit away "He told us to bring a black : ' Danial Michael 4 J4114 I tt' (7 1 1 THE MISSION r UtkAli COLLECTION OAK Thursday February 5th 12:30pm - 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