Since March 2013, a mysterious illness has affected more than 140 people in Kalachi and Krasnogorsk, settlements in the huge Kazakh steppe. With about total population of 810 people, mostly ethnic Russians and Germans the villagers would fall asleep suddenly.
KRC TIMES Desk
Scientists have discovered the cause of a strange sleeping sickness affecting residents of two villages in northern Kazakhstan. Since March 2013, the mysterious illness has affected more than 140 people in Kalachi and Krasnogorsk, the dusty settlements in the huge Kazakh steppe. With about total population of 810 people, mostly ethnic Russians and Germans the villagers would fall asleep suddenly. Even while walking people slept suddenly, and would wake up with memory loss, grogginess, weakness and headaches. Some fell victim more than half a dozen times. The sufferers even slept for up to six days at a time.
Though the sick person appears to be conscious and can even walk, but suddenly then falls into a deep sleep and snores.
The sickness would affect all age groups, with children dropping off at school. Some complained of hallucinations.
Doctors have tested sufferers, but the mysterious illness defied all explanation. First it was thought that the patients were suffering the after-effects of counterfeit vodka, but as the epidemic grew they began diagnosing people with suspection of brain illnesses.
Kazakhstan’s health ministry tested more than 7,000 nearby homes but didn’t find significantly high levels of radiation or of heavy metals and their salts. It detected raised radium levels in some homes, but it was not enough to explain the phenomenon. Even sleep disorder experts could not find a cause.
Earlier many suspected the nearby uranium mines that were closed after the fall of the Soviet Union, were leaving gases but now at least the mystery has been solved and the cause does indeed lie in the uranium mines. Kazakhstan’s deputy PM, Berdibek Saparbaev have confirmed. After analysing the results of medical examinations of all the residents, researchers concluded that it was caused by heightened levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons in the air.
The uranium mines are closed since long and at times a concentration of carbon monoxide surfaces there. The oxygen in the air is reduced accordingly, which is the real reason for the sleeping sickness in these villages. Evacuation of the two villages has begun, with authorities reportedly relocating 68 of 223 families so far.
