A boy has shocked his parents and doctors as he suffers from “precocious puberty” and experiences mood swings and “sexual urges” at just two years old.
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The boy, known as Akash, from Delhi, India, was growing alarmingly fast and taken to a doctor when he started growing body hair and experience painful erections.
Medical tests revealed Akash had testosterone levels as high as that of a 25-year-old man, at 600 ng/dl. A typical one-year-old’s testosterone levels are around 20 ng/dl.
“We thought Akash was just a big baby, [but] we started noticing abnormal changes by the time he was one — it was obvious there was something wrong,” explains Akash’s mother.
According to the doctor who treated Akash, the condition affects just one in 100,000 children.
“It is a rare case that happens once in every 10 or so years,” says Dr Vaishakhi Rustagi, “Precocious puberty is traumatic for a child of his age.”
“The baby can’t express his feelings of understand what is happening to him, while his parents are left confused.”
Akash will now undergo hormone therapy to control his testosterone levels and development until he is around 11 years old and ready for puberty.
Dr Rustagi added, “If such children are not treated, they become violent. The physical changes are not suitable for their age. They can also stop growing after a few years and remain about 3-4ft tall.”
Thankfully, Akash’s condition is from natural causes and not, as Dr Rustagi initially suspected, from a large tumor, and it’s hoped Akash will live a normal life following treatment for his extremely rare condition.
