usog

usog

A culture-bound (“folk”) syndrome described in Filipinos, which is loosely equivalent to the Spanish mal de ojo superstition. Usog primarily affects infants and young children who have been greeted by a stranger; once affected, the child may develop fever and convulsions. Various cures are said to be effective, including boiling the child’s clothing or rubbing the stranger’s saliva on the child’s abdomen, shoulder or forehead. The only scientific explanation for this phenomenon may be that the child becomes extremely stressed by the stranger, resulting in extreme physical symptoms.