The toxin in litchi kills more than 100 Indian children each year

American and Indian scientists discovered a mysterious disease that kills more than 100 children every year in northern India by eating fabrics when hungry causes.

Over the past two decades, hundreds of healthy children each year in Bihar, India have experienced sudden seizures and unconsciousness, with more than 100 deaths, causing confusion for doctors. The new study published in the February issue of The Lancet indicates that these children have been poisoned by cloth , according to BBC.

Fabrics contain toxins that prevent the body from producing glucose.(Photo: AFP).

Most of the victims are poor children in India's main fabric growing area. They often eat cloths that fall to the ground in the garden .

The fabric contains toxins that inhibit the body's ability to produce glucose , affecting the blood sugar levels of young children, which are already very low because they often do not eat dinner. As a result, they often wake up and scream at night before experiencing seizures and unconsciousness due to cerebral edema before death.

Infected child testers were taken to Muzaffarpur hospital from May to July 2014 and found an association with the disease that caused brain swelling and convulsions in Caribbean children. The disease comes from the ackee fruit , which contains hypoglycin , a toxin that prevents the body from producing glucose. Tests show that litchi fruit also contains the toxin hypoglycin.

This motivates health authorities to encourage parents to ensure that children eat well and limit the amount of fabrics they can eat. Children with symptomatic symptoms should be treated quickly for hypoglycemia. As a result, the number of cases decreased from hundreds to about 50 each year, according to the New York Times.