Kopfnick's disease is rustling

Thousands of children in Uganda suffer from mysterious Kopfnick's disease

01/05/2012

Thousands of children in East African Uganda suffer from a strange disease characterized by heavy nods, trembling hands and, at worst, a loss of consciousness.

Doctors in the East African country are puzzled by the spread of the mysterious Kopfnick disease, the news agency reports „dpa“. So far, neither the causes of the disease nor the transmission routes are known. The only thing that is certain is that around 3,000 children in Uganda are already suffering from the strange illness, the Uganda state health ministry said.

Trembling hands, fierce nodding and fainting as symptoms of the mysterious disease
The affected children have trembling hands, constantly nod violently with their heads and sometimes even faint, report the authorities. First and foremost, children and adolescents between the ages of five and fifteen are affected from the north of Uganda. In the past two years, 60 people have died of this mysterious disease, according to the news agency „dpa“ citing information from the „Daily Monitor“. The doctors and government officials have so far failed despite intensive research to determine the cause of the disease. Also, the infection route is not identified yet. Health Ministry spokeswoman Rukia Nakamatte said further investigations are now underway to provide information on the mysterious Kopfnick's disease.

Toxic substances as the cause of Kopfnick's disease?
According to the authorities and doctors on the ground, it can not be ruled out that the children's disease is caused by toxic substances released by the rebels „Resistance Army of the Lord“ (Lord's Resistance Army, LRA) were used in the fight against the government in Kampala. According to international experts, the rebel group of the LRA is one of the most brutal of such groups worldwide and first appeared in northern Uganda at the end of the 1980s. Currently, the LRA rebels are predominantly active in central Africa and northeastern Congo. In Uganda, since 1987, the extremely brutal rebel group has tortured, mutilated and killed tens of thousands of people in its bloody fight against Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni. In addition, thousands of women were raped in the name of resistance and the struggle for a Christian God-state.

In addition, the LRA has captured tens of thousands of children and forced them to participate in the fighting. As a child soldier most of the minors had to commit terrible acts. The submerged leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony, is also wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity - but so far he has not been caught. According to international observers, since the armistice with the Ugandan government in 2006, the LRA has increasingly become a loose troop of mercenaries and bandits.

Thousands of children in Sudan are also suffering from head problems
Whether the warlike actions of the LRA are actually related to the Kopfnick disease remains open to now. At the beginning of December 2011, the health authorities from Sudan had reported on the mysterious illness of thousands of children in South Sudan. At that time, the authorities said that children's head nick syndrome is often triggered when food is seen and a virus or bacteria can be excluded as the cause of the disease. Sudan had asked for help from the World Health Organization, but international experts have so far failed to provide any explanation for the enigmatic Kopfnick disease. (Fp)

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Image: Dieter Schütz