‘Alien’ baby boom in Bihar alarms health experts

Babies are suffering from rare genetic disorder

Health experts in Bihar are bewildered over an unexpected rise in births of “alien” babies with bulging red eyes, fish skin and underdeveloped or no head.

At least four such babies were born in this eastern Indian state since January this year causing alarm. No such cases were reported in the past.

The latest case has been reported from Katihar district of Bihar, more than 350km east of Patna. The baby which doctors say is suffering from “harlequin-type ichthyosis”, a very rare severe genetic disorder causing thickening of the skin, was born to Khalida Begum in the weekend.

People from faraway places are now making a beeline to the village to catch a glimpse of the baby with bulging eyes and small head. However, the 35-year-old mother is not happy. “When I saw the baby after delivery for the first time, I was completely shocked to see the alien-looking boy. My other children were born healthy without any deformity,” said Khalida, a mother of four children. She is refusing to keep the baby with her and doesn’t like to hold her in her arms.

Rash of births

The “alien story” first hit headlines in January when another Muslim woman from Paliganaj block in Patna district delivered a baby with a ‘weird’ look. The woman looked completely shocked and devastated.

“That was not the baby I was looking for. I wanted to become a mother of healthy child, be it boy or the girl,” was how she described her plight to the media.

According to researchers, the overall rate of “harlequin ichthyosis” is one in 300,000, but the state has seen the birth of a number of such babies in the past 90 days.