Following the 'mass psychogenic illness' or 'mass hysteria' that recently affected a few hundred students, mostly the adolescent females, the Ministry of Health yesterday arranged a press conference where leading experts in this field were present.

Emphasising schoolteachers and health workers' working together to tackle the problem, the experts said the same thing had happened in many developed and developing countries in the past and there is nothing to be worried about it.

The media can play an important role by creating awareness among the people on how they could cope with the ailment and what they should do, Health Adviser Maj Gen (retd) ASM Matiur Rahman said at the press briefing at the health ministry auditorium.

"The illness leaves no long-term complication, and the patients and their guardians need counselling.

At the same time nutritious food and proper health care for the patient is important. Mild tranquilliser can be used to ease the tension," he said.

"The symptoms of mass hysteria -- headache, vomiting or nausea, losing consciousness, blurred vision, convulsion, restlessness, pain in chest, abdomen and even in whole body and breathing problem may increase if the affected children get excessive attention. But it is not that they are acting. The symptoms appear as the expression of their mental state," he said.

"In mass hysteria which is also known as psychogenic illness, similar type of physical symptoms spread radically among the contemporary children. But no specific disease was identified after the patients' physical check-up. Still now no one has died due to this illness," said the adviser.

However, the illness normally starts from environmental factors such as smell, fright of infection or rumour and spreads rapidly among the nearby children from hearing or seeing the affected one, he said.

"It can also spread through the news provided by the media and the children who have low stress tolerance get affected first," he said adding that if the affected child can be provided with counselling by keeping him or her separated from other children, accentuation of the illness will reduce.

Psychiatrist Dr Anwara Syed Haque said the female children are mostly affected with the illness for some biological and social factors.

"During the adolescent period, children's personality is not developed enough and sometimes they may not be able to cope with the adverse social situations. It can also influence others of the same age group," she said.

Explaining different steps taken by the government to control the mass psychogenic illness that began on July 11 in Narsinghdi, the health adviser said Directorate General of Health and the Control Room has been instructed for non-stop information collection regarding the issue.

Bureau of Health Education and Directorate General of Health have also been requested to circulate awareness messages, he said, adding that mass psychogenic illness was first reported in the country in 2005 among the school children in Mujibnagar upazila of Meherpur district.

Among others, neurologist Prof Din Mohammad, Prof Mahmudur Rahman of Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Dr Abdullah Al Mamun, Principal and Head of the Department of Medicine of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) Prof MA Faiz were present at the briefing.

All the 'mass hysteria' affected students who were admitted to DMCH have been released, as their condition is stable now.

Meanwhile, our Barisal correspondent reported that seven more students of Muladi upazila in Barisal fell ill with mass hysteria symptoms yesterday.