Mysterious Sleeping Sickness of People in a Kazakhstan Village: Facts

Story:

The Sleeping Sickness of Kazakhstan.

First reported in 2013 in Kalachi, a village in the northern part of Kazakhstan, 14% of the population has been affected. People seem to be falling asleep for a great length of time, waking only after weeks spent in slumber in a state that doctors describe as comatose.

Other Versions

1. ‘Sleeping Sickness’: The Mysterious Village in Kazakhstan Where People Fall Asleep For Days.

2. Doctors Can’t Explain Why People in Kazakhstan are Falling Asleep For Days.

Picture of Mysterious Sleeping Sickness of People in a Kazakhstan Village — Mysterious Sleeping Sickness of People in a Kazakhstan Village

Analysis:

These strange stories in circulation online since at least couple of years talk about a Sleeping Sickness in a Kazakhstan Village, where people fall asleep suddenly at random for a great length of time, sometimes for days. It is also said that doctors could not explain the reason behind this mysterious ‘Sleeping Sickness’. Yes, the claims are facts, but researchers later came up with plausible reasons behind the sleeping sickness reported in couple of remote Kazakhstan villages.

About the ‘Sleeping Sickness’

Since at least 2013, some of the residents of Kalachi and Krasnogorsk, two villages in northern Kazakhstan, began falling asleep suddenly at random, even while walking, driving a motorcycle, or milking cows. Sometimes the people affected passed out for up to six days at a time, waking up with memory loss, grogginess, weakness and headaches. Some victims who did not pass out also reported hallucinations, headaches, and fatigue. This strange sleeping sickness has affected more than 140 people in the Kazakhstan villages with a total population of around 810 people. Interestingly, the strange behavior was also reported in pets like Cats. Because of the bizarre disorder, the place in Kazakhstan has been nicknamed “Sleepy Hollow”.

For couple of years, the mysterious sleeping illness in Kazakhstan defied all explanation as no one could explain the precise reasons behind it. Scientists, along with the government of Kazakhstan went on to look into the matter seriously. Initially, the local water and soil, or an illness like Meningitis, have been suspected but then ruled out. At some point, there were also rumors that the patients in Kazakhstan were suffering the after-effects of counterfeit Vodka.

Mystery Solved?

In mid 2015, Kazakhstan’s deputy PM, Berdibek Saparbaev announced that the mystery of sleeping sickness of people in Kazakhstan villages has at last been solved. On behalf of the Kazakhstan government, Berdibek Saparbaev said the cause does indeed lie in the nearby Uranium Mines, like suspected by some earlier. The uranium mines were closed since the early 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union, but at times a concentration of Carbon Monoxide occurs there. Officials say the released carbon monoxide gas from the nearby mine reduces the oxygen content in the air, and this is the real reason for the sleeping sickness in these Kazakhstan villages. Researchers concluded that the strange ‘Sleeping Sickness’ was caused by heightened levels of Carbon Monoxide and Hydrocarbons in the air. However, some people disagreed with the findings about the carbon monoxide reasons, and said that that other gases like Carbon Dioxide or Methane could also be responsible for the sleeping sickness. Even the study from Kazakhstan government mentioned that hydrocarbons—likely methane gas—were also coming out of the uranium mine. Authorities started evacuation of the two Kazakhstan villages, relocating the residents.