That is, in fact, this term shows that doctors are still powerless before the riddle of the Kalach's sleepy curse. The first signs of all victims are the same - unsteadiness, nausea, dizziness. Then a long sleep. And after waking up, the symptoms disappear without a trace.
The first outbreak was recorded in March 2013. Then the doctors thought that people were simply poisoned with burned vodka. But then the situation repeated itself at Easter. The next wave came on New Year's Eve, then at the end of the winter holidays, and then in May. When it became clear that it was not a matter of low-quality alcohol, they began to sin on fumes from closed mines. Uranium ore was mined near the village from 60 to 90 years. But over the past year, experts have conducted hundreds of studies, including the study of the background radiation. Nothing outside the normal range was found.
This is understandable, says Boris Myasoedov, Chairman of the Interdepartmental Scientific Council on Radiochemistry under the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences and Rosatom:
“Some radioactive natural elements (such as uranium) have gaseous decay products. For uranium, this is radon. If the balance is disturbed in the process of uranium mining, then radon is naturally released. But radon is a relatively short-lived product; it decomposes rather quickly. These are months, no more than a year. Therefore, there can be no long-term influence or any excess of radon."
Researchers have already looked for salts of heavy metals, took bacterial and virological tests, but found nothing that could cause mass hibernation. In May of this year, a new assumption appeared. The Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan reported that the reason could be high concentration fumes from basements, which accumulated during the heating season. Experts also met this version with skepticism.
Theories have appeared about a rare genetic disease - the village is small, the gene pool is not being renewed.
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It does not fit into this picture that the disease appeared suddenly and manifests itself periodically. Someone started talking about the return of lethargic encephalitis. His epidemic raged in Europe since 1915 for 10 years, then suddenly began to decline. It was not possible to establish the pathogen then. The problem is that no brain changes were recorded in the residents of Kalachi, says Mikhail Poluektov. Local doctors consulted him.
“According to the descriptions, the residents of this village still have no signs of lethargic encephalitis. It struck me that most of the cases of these falling asleep were very demonstrative. Happened only when a person was in a hospital, when he could be observed. Or relatives. But for some reason no one told that he fell asleep at home and woke up 5 days later alone. One can suspect a certain form of mental illness, mass psychosis, when in whole villages or other large groups of people some idea began to take hold, and they showed similar symptoms of the same disease."
The specialists again went to the village to conduct laboratory and clinical research. Although some have already sounded a proposal to solve the problem radically - just to demolish the village. But so far the decision has not been made, so Kalachi will not disappear from the map of Kazakhstan.
