One-year-old boy develops sexual organs of a grown man due to rare hormonal condition

'Precocious puberty is traumatic for a child of his age and it makes them violent'

The baby boy has now been treated with hormone therapy and his symptoms have decreased (Rex Features)

A one-year-old boy who developed sexual organs and sexual urges has been diagnosed with a rare hormonal condition.

The infant from Delhi, in India, was found to have a rare hormonal dysfunction known as "precocious puberty" after his family noticed that he was developing pubic and facial hair, as well as the penis the size of an older boy.

He also showed the brain development of a 12-year-old teenager.

Many of his symptoms have since been treated through hormone therapy.

The boy's mother, Shabnam Praveen, said the family had at first noticed he was much taller than other babies his age before becoming increasingly concerned.

"We thought he was just a big baby but later everyone started to point out that this growth couldn't be normal," she told the Deccan Chronicle.

"His penis had grown to that of a man's size and we knew something was wrong."

Precocious puberty in one-year-old infants is thought to affect one in 100,000 toddlers, and one in 10,000 aged between eight and 10. The condition usually causes infants to stop growing after several years and remain about 1 metre tall.

Girls can also develop the condition between the ages of eight to 10.

The child, who also became more muscular as a result of his condition, was brought to Dr Vaishakhi Rustagi, a consulting paediatric endocrinologist at the Max Super Speciality Hospital in Shalimar Bagh.

Whereas at 18 months old he would usually have a testosterone level of 20 nanograms per deciliter (ng/dl), he had one of 500 to 600 ng/dl - the same as a 25-year-old man.

"Since the baby was so young, he could hardly understand the changes taking place in his body. He would experience sexual urges," said Dr Rustagi.

"Precocious puberty is traumatic for a child of his age and it makes them violent. His muscle strength increased to a level that even his parents couldn't control him."

Other age-related developmental conditions include the extremely rare genetic disorder, progeria, which causes the body's cells to age prematurely and often causes the death of its sufferer by 13 years old.

The boy's genital size and other changes have decreased over the past five months since being placed on hormone therapy which requires his family to pay for a hormone dose every month.

The cost is reportedly not being covered by the family's medical insurance.