ne day last summer , Viktor Kazachenko set off across the steppe from his village in northern Kazakhstan . He was driving to the nearest town on some errands , but he never arrived .
“ My brain switched off ,” he says . “ That ’ s it . I don ’ t remember .” Kazachenko had been hit by the socalled “ sleeping sickness ” that is plaguing Kalachi , a remote village about 300 miles west of the country ’ s capital Astana .
The mysterious illness has sent residents into comas , sometimes lasting days on end . “ I was going to town on 28 August ,” Kazachenko told EurasiaNet . org , still disoriented by the experience . “ I came round on 2 September . I understood [ on waking up ] in the hospital that I ’ d fallen asleep .”
Kazachenko blacked out while driving his motorcycle , with his wife riding with him . “ It ’ s good it wasn ’ t that foreign vehicle ,” he jokes , gesturing at his car standing beside his neat white cottage . “ That ’ s fast – a motorbike isn ’ t so fast !”. He didn ’ t complain of any other injuries as a result of his sudden sleep .
Raisa Kazachenko has nursed her husband through two bouts of the sleep‐inducing illness . Photograph : Joanna Lillis / EurasiaNet
The motorcycle incident was his second journey in to the land of nod – “ the first time I slept for three days ,” Kazachenko says , laughing . He maintains a sense of humour about his predicament but it has had serious health implications .