Over 100 Children Died in India For Eating Lychee on an Empty Stomach

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It is still a mystery what happened in India after children from the region of Bihar ate lychee on an empty stomach and started suffering from a sudden seizure and lost consciousness. New research break out in solving the mystery case.

Bihar as India's main lychee-producing region has been alarmed. Base with the reports, mostly the victims of this mystery illness were poor children who tend to eat the said fruit who fell on the field of Bihar, BBC News reported.

The Lancet article and the research made by an investigator, Dr. Radesh Yadav along with India Epidemic Intelligence Service examined the lives of inflicted children who eat the said fruit. Researchers found that Lychee containing a dangerous toxin called Hypoglycin can lead in suppressing the production of sugar in the body. Poor children who are mostly affected by it were said to have a lower blood sugar levels due to starving to hunger in the evening.

"This is kind of emblematic of why we collaborate, to build this kind of systematic approach." said Padmini Srikantiah, a senior epidemiologist with the C.D.C. The usual symptoms of this mysterious illness are convulsion and losing consciousness as they experienced worst case, swelling of the brain.

Parents who believed that their children are healthy enough night before taking to the Hospital stated that the next morning their children would be awakened with a hurtful crying caused by a severe pain. After that, children would be having a sudden seizure and slipping into a comma.

"It was a very intense situation because we witnessed children dying in front of our eyes every day, as soon as they arrived at the hospital," said Dr. Yadav

In this case, the health official of India reminded every parent that they should limit their children in eating lychee especially if they haven't taken their meal. This precaution has  been their way in minimizing the cases behind this mystery illness especially, every year the number of reported cases of sickness has fallen to hundreds via New York Times.