A one-year-old boy in India who developed pubic hair andsexual urges has been diagnosed with a rare hormonal condition.
The toddler, known only as Akash, was
found to have the testosterone level of a 25-year-old.
This meant he had adult-sized genitalia, facial and body hair and his voice was starting to break.
Doctors now say he
is suffering from precocious puberty - defied as any child who goes
through puberty before the age of seven or eight.
Akash's parents first noticed something
was wrong six months ago.
His genitals were growing abnormally
big, while the rest of his body was too small compared to other children his
age.
The child's unnamed mother told the
Hindustan Times: 'We thought maybe he was just a big baby, so we did not take
him to the doctor.
'But by the time he was one, it was
apparent there was something wrong.
'My mother-in-law, who has taken care
of several children in the family, also said that his growth seemed unnatural.
That is when we took him to the doctor.'
Precocious puberty is a rare
condition. The youngest mother on record, Lina Medina, gave birth at the
age of five years and seven months in Peru in 1939, and became an international
celebrity at the time.
Her parents had assumed her growing
abdomen was due to a tumour. But when remedies failed to cure it, her father
took her to hospital.
Just one month later she astounded the
world by giving birth to a boy - and becoming the the youngest mother in
history aged just five years and seven months.
Akash's doctor, Vaishakhi Rustagi, told
the Hindustan Times: 'Precocious puberty is traumatic for a child of his age
and it makes them violent - his muscle strength increased to a level that even
his parents couldn't control him.'
Another danger is that the child will
stop growing prematurely, therefore remaining 3-4ft tall for life.
The toddler has now been given
medication to relieve his symptoms - at least until he is old enough to
understand his condition, doctors said.
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