Panic Over Mysterious Hair Loss in Buldhana

A team of health officials has collected samples of water, hair and skin of the villagers for analysis. We are awaiting the results. Dr Deepali Bhayekar, tehsil-level medical officer

- Niraj Pandit and Raju Shinde

MUMBAI: Over a week ago, when a farmer (who chose not to be named) from Bondgaon village, in Buldhana district's Shegaon tehsil, ran a comb through his hair vigorously to relieve a stubborn itchiness in his scalp, he found tufts being rooted out. "And within two days I had lost all my hair," he said.

He is one of over 55 people from Shegaon tehsil's three villages - Bondgaon, Kalwad and Hingna - who have experienced sudden and severe hair loss leading to baldness within days, over the last one week. According to health officials, the numbers are likely to rise.

Located 80 kilometers from Buldhana city, the villages have a population of 1700, where most are either farm owners who grow soy and toor daal, or are farm laborers.

Bondgaon's sarpanch, Rameshwar Dharkar, said the malaise first came to light on January 2, when three women of a single household started experiencing severe hair fall.

"When they were sent to a public health center located two kilometers away, doctors suspected it was the consequence of using a certain hair-washing product. They prescribed temporary medication and referred them to a taluka health center," said Dharkar.

"However, when similar cases began appearing among other villagers, we contacted higher-ups in the district."

Digambar Imale, a resident of Bondgaon, said, such is the severity of the malaise, "that even a gentle touch or tug cause hair to fall out in clumps". Within a week, he said, several people found themselves going completely bald.

Another anxious villager said, "The local doctor was overwhelmed and utterly confused by this phenomenon, and advised us to go to a government hospital. But when we went there, doctors said they had never seen anything like this before and could not provide any medicine till Wednesday."