A 3-month-old Indian baby is the center of a medical mystery as doctors are trying to determine if the infant suffered from spontaneous human combustion , according to the New York Times.
The infant is being treated at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital in Chennai, India, after his parents claimed he caught on fire four separate times.
The boy's mother, Rajeshwari Karnan, said nine days after his birth she found the baby on fire in her hut after he was left alone momentarily.
"There was a flame on his belly and his right knee, and my husband rushed with a towel to put it off," Karnan told the New York Times. "I got very scared."
But that wasn't the only time it happened, according to the parents, who said there were three other similar incidents even after they took the baby to a local hospital for treatment.
"A baby catching fire spontaneously is not possible," Dr Mohan said. "Alcoholics have a very small percentage of alcohol secreted in their sweat but even that wouldn't generate a fire."
"We are in a dilemma and haven't come to any conclusion," Dr. Narayan Babu, head of pediatrics at Kilpauk Medical Hospital, told the New York Times. "The parents have held that the child burned instantaneously without any provocation. We are carrying out numerous tests. We are not saying it is SHC until all investigations are complete."
Spontaneous human combustion remains a controversial theory as a plausible cause of death.
"The baby doesn't have any scars or burn injuries on his back. This could be because he was lying on his back and there was no air contact to cause a fire," he said.
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