Endless hunger: Nairobi doctors crack a years-long medical mystery

A boy in Nairobi has been diagnosed with a rare condition that makes him hungry all the time, even after eating all day. Dr Katherine Oyieke, a paediatric neurologist at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi (AKUH), and paediatric endocrinologist Dr Menbere Kahssay, confirmed the boy has a rare genetic disorder called Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). The brain of people with PWS does not control hunger and fullness, so the person continues to feel hungry even after having food. “Prader-Willi syndrome is a complex, rare, genetic multisystem disease. Early diagnosis is important for initiating correct care, including detecting hyperphagia to avoid development of morbid obesity and associated comorbidities,” Dr Oyieke’s team said in a report co-authored by Dr Charlotte Hoybye, an endocrinologist at Sweden's Karolinska Institute.