Authorities say dozens of girls in Kenya fell victim to hysteria after allegedly suffering from a debilitating “disease.”
Last week, more than 100 students were suddenly gunned down at a girls’ school in Musoli, 232 miles (374 km) northwest of Nairobi.
Worrying footage circulating online appeared to show students having difficulty walking and shaking uncontrollably.
In clips purporting to illustrate the scale of the crisis, bedridden children were also seen twitching in what appeared to be a hospital.
But local officials now say the mysterious surge in cases was actually sparked by hysteria. They blamed the students’ fear of the upcoming final exams.
Worrying footage circulating online appeared to show students having difficulty walking and shaking uncontrollably. In clips purporting to illustrate the scale of the crisis, bedridden children were also seen twitching in what appeared to be a hospital
Last week, more than 100 students were suddenly gunned down at a girls’ school in Musoli, 232 miles (374 km) northwest of Nairobi. But local officials now say the mysterious surge in cases was actually sparked by hysteria. They blamed the students’ fear of the upcoming final exams
Tests based on samples from affected students ruled out an infection at school.
Fearful, Kenyan health authorities immediately launched an investigation into the cause of the outbreak It could have “catastrophic” consequences if it were contagious.
However, local news website Nation Africa reported that Dr. Bernard Wesonga said: “Samples were collected from the students admitted to four hospitals in the county and taken to government laboratories where we conducted both culture and sensitive testing.”
The Kakamega County Health Manager added: “The results showed that the learners did not suffer from any illness.”
“This suggests a psychological challenge that may have been triggered by panic.”
Boniface Kibaki, the Education Minister of the Catholic Diocese of Kakamega, told local media agency ACI Africa that the hospitalized students had been examined and found to be free of infections.
“The medical results came back negative.” There is no disease. “It’s more of a psychological issue,” Mr. Kibaki said, the outlet claimed.
Blood, feces and urine samples from the killed girls were sent to the laboratories.
Conflicting reports in local newspapers left it unclear whether the school in Musoli was temporarily closed. But the Education Department confirmed last week it would remain open.
However, some parents decided to take their children out of school as a precaution.
Doctors, anthropologists and sociologists who have studied mass hysteria – known medically as mass psychogenic illness (MPI) – have so far been unable to find a clear explanation for the phenomenon.
Previous cases of MPI show that women are affected more often than men. It often starts with a single person.
According to Robert Bartholomew, an American sociologist who specializes in mass hysteria and social panics, there are two main types of MPI.
Write in Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine In 2013, he claimed that anxiety hysteria is triggered by extreme, sudden stress within a close-knit group.
Often this is due to an unusual smell that is considered harmful.
Symptoms typically include dizziness, headache, fainting and changes in breathing, but most patients recover within 24 hours.
A second type – motor hysteria – results from long-term anxiety with common signs such as twitching, tremors, difficulty walking, uncontrollable laughing and crying, difficulty communicating, and trance-like states.
In a similar case in 2015, 40 schoolchildren in the United Kingdom were treated by emergency workers for anxiety-related nausea and fainting.
The children at Outwood Academy in Ripon, North Yorkshire, had all attended a memorial service in the school hall.
Fire service specialists dispatched to the incident found no signs of hazardous materials, but noted that the hall was warm.
In an apparent case of mass hysteria, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service suspected a handful of children fainted while the rest developed symptoms triggered by fear spreading throughout the school.
In 1965, Blackburn experienced an “epidemic of overbreathing” after 85 girls fainted within two hours at a school in the town.
The students were taken to hospital with symptoms including fainting and dizziness.
Anxiety, viruses, food poisoning and a gas leak were suspected as the causes, but nothing was proven. Other officials believed it was mass hysteria.