3-Month Old baby In Flames!! Spontaneous Human Combustion?

Hi guys!
Like me, many of you may have been skeptical of Spontaneous Human Combustion, a condition where a person catches fire without any external source. But here's a recent case where an otherwise healthy three month old baby went up in flames four times!

Three-month-old in flames stuns city docs

Chennai (India): Rahul was virtually in flames four times since he was born. He is two-and-a-half months old. Doctors say it is due to a rare condition called spontaneous human combustion. Afflicted with the disorder seen only in 200 people across the world in the past 300 years, the child is undergoing treatment at the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, Chennai.

Rahul, a native of a village near Tindivanam, was nine days old when he first “caught fire” in front of his mother Rajeshwari’s eyes, despite there being no source of fire in the vicinity. Rajeshwari took him to the Villupuram Medical College, from where the baby was discharged three days later.

After coming home, he suffered burns again.

“Doctors say he is a healthy child and his organs are fine. The last time he caught fire was a fortnight ago, and this time it was head to toe,” said Rajeshwari.

Paediatrician Dr Narayana Babu, who is treating Rahul, said the baby emitted highly combustible gas through the pores of his skin, which made him catch fire. “We have not identified the gas yet.

I wonder how and why a person's body can emit a highly combustible gas through pores of the skin that catches fire? The temperature needed for combustion would be mind boggling! So how and from where is this heat generated? But the amazing part is that there seems to be no adverse effects on the kid!


epaper.timesofindia.com...

Can't read the article with out a subscription

bo11ocks

If this happened in this country, UK, the kid would probably be in the hands of Social Services after the first ignition. Sounds a bit suspicious to me.
In saying that, my mate went up in flames once, His story was a filter from his roll up lit up like Phosphorus and landed on his even more combustible T-Shirt leaving his upper torso resembling Freddie Kruger, i'm talking serious Burns here...I dont/didn't buy his story either.

I'm surprised we don't have more information about this with today's technology. After 300 hundred years all we know is gas through the pores, nothing to see here folks move along..LOL

reply to post by OrionHunterX


Linky winky wanty money

Not happening

I'll look for more sources when I get home
This although tragic qite fascinating

Good find
Cody

reply to post by OrionHunterX


He is Not undergoing treatment, he is learning how to harness its potential.

Can Anyone say FireStarter?

Hi Folks,

I came across these extra links if people need extra information :

www.ibtimes.co.uk...

www.asianage.com...

www.thehindu.com...

www.deccanchronicle.com...

There are a couple of peer reviewed articles discussing the causes, just Google this : what is the cause of spontaneous human combustion. There are 3 to choose from at the top of the page normally.

Anf for those that cannot be bothered :

Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) describes reported cases of the burning of a living (or very recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition.

As of 1995, there have been about 200 cited cases worldwide over a period of around 300 years.

There are many hypotheses that attempt to explain human spontaneous combustion. These include several natural explanations as well as supernatural and biblical explanations.

Natural explanations include those:

Intestinal conversion of food into methane by methanogens which when released through the pores of the skin can catch fire when triggered by various sources (E.g.: Silk cloth generating static electricity).

Based on unknown or otherwise unobserved phenomena (e.g., that the production of abnormally concentrated gas or raised levels of blood alcohol might cause spontaneous ignition)

Relating to health and lifestyle factors (e.g. smoking, not consuming adequate levels of water, etc.) That involve an external source of ignition (e.g., the victim was drunk and dropped a cigarette)

Objections to natural explanations typically refer to the degree of burning of the body with respect to its surroundings. Indeed, one of the common markers of a case of SHC is that the body – or part of it – suffered an extraordinarily large degree of burning while the surroundings or the lower limbs remained comparatively undamaged.

More here :

en.wikipedia.org...

There you go folks, all it takes is a little time to look instead of coming out with unsavoury comments as one poster did!

Now its up to you boys and girls to debunk as usual!!

Kindest respects

Rodinus

reply to post by Rodinus


Nice one Rod

Just saved me doing it after work

Cody

Originally posted by felixjames20
bo11ocks

Feeling a bit silly now are we ?

Cody

Though I am familiar with this subject, this is the first time I have heard of babies experiencing this. Fascinating yet scary topic.

reply to post by cody599


Thanks Cody,

A bit fed up with one liner troll posts like that, there are other places to go for people with that kind of attitude as i think ATS deserves a more mature and intelligent approach.

But sadly you know that he/she will respond back with another type of response fairly similar to his/her first response.

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Why would he say it happened a fortnight ago? Do people say that now?

Originally posted by OrionHunterX

But the amazing part is that there seems to be no adverse effects on the kid!

Good to know and hope he stays safe unburned and in control...

"Baby went home and it happened again..."

I think that I would tend to believe Maunchaussens By Proxy before multiple spontaneous combustions of a baby.

reply to post by ShadellacZumbrum

Can Anyone say FireStarter?

The only Stephan King novel I bothered to finish reading.

reply to post by elouina

I think that I would tend to believe Maunchaussens By Proxy before multiple spontaneous combustions of a baby.

"Honey. The baby is on fire again."

It seems they can rule out food or alcohol now that this has happened to an infant. It made me think of people talking on their cell phones who start on fire (while pumping gas usually) or how this can happen to some by simply not releasing static electricity. It's so rare we don't think of it often but for an infant - even more perplexing.

Thanks for sharing - I hope they can learn more about it soon.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by elouina

 

I think that I would tend to believe Maunchaussens By Proxy before multiple spontaneous combustions of a baby.

"Honey. The baby is on fire again."

You just cracked me up with that one.

Anyways, I was thinking perhaps some sort of alcohol was used as an accelerant. What do you think?

I come from Chennai and I just watched the flash news a few minutes ago. It is infact true. The results are about to come in a few days.