It created much panic among others. However the affected students were taken to a local hospital, treated symptomatically and released later on.

Within few days, as many as eighty four students along with some school teachers were affected with the same problem. It was published in all news media of the country. Finally the symptom was diagnosed as mass hysteria.

Mass hysteria, also called collective hysteria or collective obsessional behavior is a sociopsychological phenomenon. In which a large group of people exhibit similar physical or emotional symptoms, characterised by -

1.Spontaneous, en masse development of identical physical or emotional symptoms among a group of individuals, as in a classroom of school children.

2. A socially contagious frenzy of irrational behavior in a group of people as a reaction to an event.

The cause of mass hysteria is often a baseless belief that begins small but like a hurricane travels and becomes more devastating as it picks up speed.

Affected persons produces headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, restlessness, hyperventilation, fainting. All physical and laboratory examination are found normal.

There is no specific treatment, but repeated reassurance is very important and effective. Thankfully mass hysteria occurs infrequently. Community awareness is needed to prevent the condition.

The writer is an Associate Professor of Department of Pediatrics of Community Based Medical College (CBMC), Mymensingh. [E-mail: mkarim_khan@yahoo.com]