Another article I just found about a mysterious culture-bound syndrome that has afflicted some 300 children in the Sudan. It’s called “nodding syndrome”:

Martha suffers from a strange affliction called “nodding syndrome,” apparently unique to southern Sudan. Its young victims tend to nod vigorously at the sight of food. The condition often progresses to severe seizures, mental retardation and death.

Neither traditional or modern healing techniques seem to work. These culture-bound syndromes are very weird and interesting to me.