High wheat selenium levels cause hair loss, says ICMR.

• Three Zika virus cases in Gujarat were reported between November 2016 and February 2017, but were kept under wraps until WHO announced the outbreak on May 26, 2017.
• The Health Ministry informed WHO about the three cases on May 15, 2017.
• The case of high selenium levels in wheat distributed by Public Distribution System (PDS) outlets caused increased selenium levels and sudden hair loss in over 300 people in Shegaon taluka, Maharashtra.
• Between December 2024 and January 2021, over 300 cases of sudden hair loss were reported in 18 villages in Shegaon taluka.
• A team of scientists from ICMR institutes and AIIMS Delhi collected samples from affected and unaffected individuals affected by sudden hair loss.
• The ICMR-AIIMS team found high selenium levels in blood and hair samples of affected people, but the findings have not been made public yet.
• Blood samples tested by ICMR-NIREH found that people with sudden hair loss had selenium levels nearly 31 times higher than individuals without hair loss from households with no cases of hair loss in the family.
• The presence of wheat with high levels of selenium both in the ration shops and in the affected households establishes that wheat distributed by the PDS outlets as the source of selenium for the affected people.
• Further investigations are needed to ensure that high selenium wheat is not present in the supply chain of PDS.