title: The Arjenyattah epidemic. A mass phenomenon: spread and triggering factors.
abstract: A massive epidemic of psychogenic aetiology occurred in three districts of the West Bank over two weeks in March-April, 1983. It affected 949 individuals, 727 (77%) of them adolescent females. The symptoms were not accompanied by positive physical signs or by laboratory findings. The epidemiological pattern was pathognomonic of that of a psychogenic disorder. The initial trigger was probably the odour of H2S escaping from a faulty latrine in the schoolyard of the first affected school. Subsequent spread of the disease was due to psychological and extra-medical factors, including publicity by the mass media. Spread was stopped immediately after closure of schools.
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004244:Dizziness / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide; D007046:Hysteria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008399:Mass Behavior; D008402:Mass Media; D009812:Odorants; D010146:Pain / Q000523:psychology; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D013577:Syndrome
chemical_list: D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide