50 pry students fall sick after taking deworming tablets

Over 50 students of a primary school at Kalkini fell sick yesterday after taking deworming tablets distributed by Kalkini Upazila Health Complex in Madaripur.
The tablets called 'Vermox' were distributed among over 400 students of Shikarmangal Government Primary School at around 12:00 noon, witnesses said.
As the students started falling ill after taking the tablets, the school authorities informed the Upazila Nirbahi Officer who immediately sent a medical team from the health complex to the school.
Later, another team from Madaripur Sadar Hospital arrived at the school after the condition of students deteriorated.
Of them, 17 students were admitted to Upazila Health Complex while 24 others recovered from illness after receiving treatment from the medical team.
Later, more students were taken to the health complex, raising the number to 53.
Headmaster Beluchi Biswas said the deworming tablets were given to students of other schools in the upazila but none of them fell sick.
Upazila Health and Planning Officer Abdur Rouf said the tablets were not date-expired and that the students were affected by mass hysteria, a kind of mass psychogenic illness.