A closer look
As if growing up wasn't hard enough, children in specific regions of East Africa face a horrific condition where parasitic blackfly bites hijack their brains. Nodding syndrome is an unexplained, fatal form of epilepsy tightly linked to the nematode that causes river blindness. The moment these kids are exposed to food or cold temperatures, their heads involuntarily drop in a continuous nodding motion, followed by severe seizures. It's a localized neurological nightmare that baffles modern science.
