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| Baby Rahul |
(Scroll down for video) A family was left baffled after their newborn baby repeatedly caught on fire.
The three-month-old has been burned four times so far, and was treated for the burns.
The baby’s mother, Rajeswari, was overjoyed when she gave birth to her second child, a healthy baby boy. Baby Rahul joined his parents and sister, who is 2-years-old.
However, 9 days after Rahul was born, his mother suddenly found him on fire, literally, and ran to put out the flames.
"People thought I deliberately set him on fire," Rajeswari said. The mother, who is from Nedimoliyur, a village in India, was brokenhearted over the accusations and her inability to help her newborn son.
After the baby suffered three similar incidents where he caught on fire and suffered burns, the mother took him to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, where the baby is being treated for extensive burn wounds.
At the hospital, doctors discovered that the baby is suffering from an extremely rare condition called Spontaneous Human Combustion.
Researched found that in the last 300 years, 200 cases of Spontaneous Human Combustion were reported.
The last known case was of a 73-year-old man, who lived in Wales, England. He died in 1995 after catching on fire while he was sleeping.
In the pediatric intensive care unit where baby Rahul was admitted, doctors have placed a bucket of water and a fire extinguisher near the baby's bed in case of an emergency.
Doctors said they are teaching the parents how to take care of their baby’s illness. Doctors are explaining what situations can cause the child to catch on fire. "We had to teach them to avoid the sun and specify which type of clothes he cannot wear," Dr. Narayana Babu said.