Mass hysteria and public awareness

Photo: STAR

Very often we read in the newspapers that many people especially women and children in different areas of the country fall sick at a time. The patients fall down suddenly and become unconscious with convulsion. Of late, it happened in Matiranga upazila of Khagrachhari. According to a newspaper report, at least 32 people fell sick there in a couple of days. Most of the affected people are teenaged boys and girls. It has been learnt that after regaining consciousness, the patients become weak and feel pain in the body. The also behave in a strange manner.
There are people in our society who have superstitions. Fake fakirs often take advantage of this situation and assure the victims and their relatives of treating the patient by driving away evil spirits. Doctors say that during times of anxiety and tension, mass psychogenic illness breaks out among the people who lack tolerance. Also, the sickness is aggravated by poverty and malnutrition.
If mass hysteria occurs in any area, conscious people of the locality should come forward to help the affected people and bring them under medical care. The authorities concerned should publicise the actual causes behind mass hysteria in the affected areas.