An Indian baby that spontaneously caught on fire four times has medical experts baffled.
23-year-old Rajeshwari Karnan, an Indian farm laborer, had stepped outside to bathe her older child when she heard her baby wail from inside the hut, the New York Times reported.
"There was a flame on his belly and his right knee, and my husband rushed with a towel to put it off," Ms. Karnan, told the New York Times. "I got very scared."
The parents rushed the child to a Villipuram hospital, but no diagnosis was made, over the next few months the baby "spontaneously combusted" three more times.
The baby's family was asked to leave their village because neighbors worried the three-month-old could start a large fire.
After receiving press attention administration moved the family to Chennai so the baby could receive treatment at Kilpauk Medical Hospital.
Hospital staff and a team from Sastra University conducted "a chromosome test, gene analysis and skin biopsy," as well as a test for flammable gases on the skin, the Times of India reported.
The team found no evidence that it would be possible for the baby to randomly burst into flames.
"There is no such thing as spontaneous human combustion. The possibility of child abuse exists and needs to be explored ," Dr. J Jagan Mohan, head of the burns department at KMCH, to the Times of India.
The Child Welfare Committee will not be able to investigate the case until a formal complaint is filed by medical staff.
I haven't seen the child, but I don't think that abuse is possible in this case. We cannot unnecessarily suspect the parents," social activist A Narayanan, told the Times of India. "The doctors should give continuous medical support to the child. Experts should speak to the parents separately before the doctors arrive at any conclusion."
"We are not crazy to burn our own baby," Mr. Perum, the baby's father, told the New York Times.
One possible explanation for spontaneous combustion is a higher concentration of flammable acetone in the blood, according to the New Scientist article via the New York Times.
In 2011, an Irishman's death was listed as spontaneous combustion by a coroner, after he was found burned to death when there was no other source of fire.
The baby will most likely be discharged from the hospital on Saturday, and will stay with child's rights activists until the mystery is solved, the Times of India Reported.
