More on the Mass Hysteria Case in LeRoy, New York

By Vincent Iannelli, M.D., About.com Guide January 29, 2012

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I think it is great that more experts have offered to get involved in the LeRoy case, namely the NIH.

As you look into all of the cases of mass hysteria over the years, the diagnosis seems all of the more plausible.

Consider that:

520 teen girls in 2007 at a religious boarding-school in a rural area of Mexico developed subjective fever, weakness, trouble walking, and other symptoms that began soon after an expelled girl had "cursed" them.
58 students at an elementary school in Maryland, mostly in the 5th grade, in 2006 developed severe itching. The itching was thought to be started by dry air and low humidity in a portable classroom, but soon spread to the rest of the school over a 7 day period because of a "mass psychogenic response."
at least 57 people at the Melbourne Airport developed symptoms in 2005 that may have been due to a mass psychogenic illness.
11 people in a village in West Bengal in 2003 developed a tingling sensation in their limbs, loss of control of their limbs, and extreme uneasiness after two people suddenly died.
48 female students in Taiwan in 2000 began having trouble breathing and swallowing, dizziness, fainting, and verbal outbursts and were diagnosed with mass hysteria.
the vast majority of the 12,000 reports of seizures and other symptoms in Japan following a 1997 episode of Pokemon are now thought to be due to mass hysteria.
in 1998, 122 teens in Jordan were admitted to the hospital and a total of 806 reported symptoms because of suspected side effects to a mass Td vaccination program, but were later thought to be from a mass psychogenic illness that was escalated by the way the media, the children's parents, and the medical professionals reacted to the first cases.
30 teen girls at a Montreal train station in 1981 developed symptoms including fainting, dizziness, headache, abdominal pain, and tingling in their extremities after seeing a 14-year-old girl faint - and were thought to have epidemic hysteria.
in 1973, 57 members of a high school marching band in Alabama got sick during a football game, including 36 who were treated at the emergency room and it was thought that a few fainted because of the heat and the rest had symptoms because of mass hysteria.

Also consider that in many situations, experts consider that an odor can be a common trigger for mass hysteria. If there is a lot of gas drilling and fracking around the school, then there is likely some odor of gas. Add in TV coverage of the dangers of fracking, watching the movie Gasland, or a student who does a report on fracking, and maybe you have the reason for an outbreak of mass hysteria.

In the article "Mass hysteria revisited," that appeared in the journal Current Opinion Psychiatry, the authors stated that "The outbreak may then be perpetuated by a variety of factors such as... general excitement of the event, presence of media at the event, litigation and/or compensation cases, labeling the phenomenon with a specific illness diagnosis, and persistence of rumors."

That is why it is important to de-escalate the situation, reduce anxiety levels, and still provide everyone with a "feeling of control and safety."

It is also important to:

not appear dismissive of symptoms
have close collaboration between everyone involved
avoid media controversy, scientific disagreement, and political debates

And keep in mind that some experts even think that "The impact of occurrences of epidemic hysteria is underappreciated and underreported."

Still, as Timothy F. Jones, MD, wrote in his article, "Mass Psychogenic Illness: Role of the Individual Physician," it is import to reassure patients that "thorough clinical, epidemiologic and environmental investigations have identified no toxic cause for the outbreak or reason for further concern."

And you can't do that unless those investigations have been done.

But has enough been done? The Buffalo News reports that in addition to a pediatric neurologist at the Dent Neurologic Institute, others on the case include:

Genesee County Health Department
NY Department of Health
NY Office of Mental Health
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
experts from Columbia University
the school district, which commissioned environmental tests

For a second opinion, Dr. Mark Hallett, senior investigator with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in Bethesda, Md. has offered to see the teens, including covering their travel expenses.

Instead, many are going to see a doctor who seems to specialize in PANDAS, which if you look at a flow sheet on his site, the teens will likely end up on weeks of antibiotics no matter the results of their testing as a trial to see if they get better.

However this turns out, it is important to realize that the things you do to try and figure out a mystery illness, such as get people together, compare medical notes, start a Facebook page, and continue to search for more answers, etc., are exactly the opposite of what you want to do if it is an outbreak of mass hysteria.