Ethnomedical concept of heat and cold in Koro: study from Indian patients

The present study involves the examination of explanation of Koro illness as perceived by the patients during a Koro epidemic in the North Bengal region of West Bengal state, India. Using both quantitative and qualitative method of data collection several ethnomedical explanatory concepts like increased body heat, supernatural, sexual, physical strain; fever and fear were elicited as the emic framework of causes for this malady from the sufferers. Body heat emerged as one of the primary concept. These explanatory narratives were put into different models of body heat pathology, viz., structural, sexual energy, heat loss and heat avoidance and their modus operandi were elaborated. The prevailing community treatment of Koro in the context of these cognitive dimensions along with some trans-cultural reference was discussed.