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The 1983 West Bank fainting epidemic occurred in late March and early April 1983. Researchers point to mass hysteria as the most likely explanation. Fainting and dizziness were complained of by large numbers of Palestinian teenage girls, most schoolgirls, and a smaller number of female Israeli soldiers in multiple West Bank towns, leading to 943 hospitalizations. Before the cause was determined to be psychological in April 1983, the fainting spells led to accusations and counter-accusations between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel even arrested some Palestinians during the outbreak, alleging that political agitation was behind the phenomena. The ''New York Times'' reported that "Palestinian leaders have accused Israeli settlers and officials of using 'chemical warfare' in West Bank schools to drive Arabs out of the area" and that some Israeli officials "accused radical Palestinian factions of using gas or chemicals to incite demonstrations." Investigators concluded that even if some "environmental irritant" had originally been present, the wave of complaints was ultimately a product of mass hysteria. This conclusion was supported by a Palestinian health official, who said that while 20% of the early cases may have been caused by the inhalation of some kind of gas, the remaining 80% were psychosomatic. Albert Hefez, the lead Israeli psychiatric investigator into the incident, found that the Israeli press and Palestinian medical community both fueled the mass hysteria. He said the Israeli press, by speculating that "poison" was behind the incidents in its early reporting and quoting unnamed Israeli army officials as saying nerve gas was being used by Palestinian militants to provoke an uprising, spread panic.〔('Mass hysteria blamed for Afghan schoolgirl ‘poisoning,’ not the Taliban,' ) in Pakistan Today, July 11, 2012.〕 He found the Arab medical community, in turn, decided that the "poison" must be coming from the Israeli side. “In the Jordanian West Bank epidemic, both the Israeli press and the Arab medical community, entrapped in their existing sociopolitical conflicts, expressed their viewpoints and feelings in their own particular way and, by doing so, gave momentum to the course of events."〔''The Role of the Press and the Medical Community in the epidemic of "Mysterious Gas Poisoning" in the Jordan West Bank'', Albert Hefez, American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, pg. 837, July 1985.〕 Baruch Modan, then director general of Israel's health ministry, also concluded that most of the victims of the epidemic suffered from a psychological malady, though he said some who fell ill after April 3, when epidemiologists say the outbreak had subsided, were faking. Albert Hefez, Israel’s lead psychiatric investigator of the incident, wrote in his 1985 study “The Role of the Press and the Medical Community in the epidemic of ‘Mysterious Gas Poisoning’ in the Jordan West Bank” that Israeli newspaper reports of “poisoning” at the start of the epidemic added fuel to the flames. A front page article in Haaretz on March 28, 1983 even claimed that Israeli military investigators had found traces of nerve gas and quoted “army sources” as saying they suspected Palestinian militants were poisoning their own people in order to blame Israel and provoke an uprising. Palestinian leaders followed up with accusations that Israel had poisoned them in an attempt to drive them from the West Bank. Such epidemic hysteria has a long history: notable cases are the Salem witch trials, which arose according to some historians from hysteria among girls, to the Tanganyika laughter epidemic of 1962 and the 2008-2012 outbreak of psychogenic illness over suspected Taliban poisoning by Afghan schoolgirls.〔 ==The epidemic== The first fainting spells were on March 21, 1983 in the West Bank town of Arrabah under Israeli rule, when a girl ran to a window, coughing and complained of breathing difficulties. Within hours, six other students complained of the same symptoms. Panic spread to other classes. Israeli and Palestinian doctors, on investigating, are also reported to have detected a nauseating odour in the school. Cases of vomiting and complaints of blurred vision were also reported.〔Raphael Israeli, ''Poison: Modern Manifestations of a Blood Libel,'' Lexington Books 2002 pp.4-5.〕 Schoolgirls fell sick, some fainted. At the time the girls were in a different classrooms. They were taken to hospitals but no medical causes for their complaints were found. Some female Israeli soldiers who escorted the girls came down with the same symptoms, including nausea, dizziness, headache and stomach pains.〔〔 The school in Arrabah where the epidemic began saw 32 girls affected. Over the next two weeks, 57 Palestinian girls complained of similar symptoms at Zahra Middle School in Jenin (26 March), 37 at Tulkarem (March 29), 310 in Hebron (early April) and other towns,〔 with 943 people eventually hospitalized in the West Bank, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israeli military authorities in the West Bank closed Palestinian schools for 20 days during the epidemic.〔''Nod for three more Jewish villages'', Reuters in The New Straits Times (Malaysia), April 21, 1983〕 The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) wrote in its report on the epidemic that it occurred in three waves. The first wave from March 21 to March 24, 1983 began at roughly 8:00 am "when a 17-year-old student experienced a sensation of throat irritation and had difficulty breathing shortly after entering her classroom" in Arrabah the CDC wrote. Symptoms soon spread to classmates and at least one teacher, and some of the girls complained of a smell like rotten eggs. "On the basis of the students' reports of odor, they suspected the presence of a toxic gas and immediately instituted a widespread but unsuccessful search for the source," the CDC wrote. The CDC reported that 70% of patients in the first wave were schoolgirls between 12 and 17 years old and that "clinical, epidemiologic, and toxicologic analyses indicated the illness was of psychogenic origin and was induced by stress. The outbreak, which began at a girls' secondary school, may have been triggered by the odor of low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide (H((2))S) gas near the school." The CDC defined the second wave as between March 26 and 28, mostly hitting Jenin and nearby villages. The second wave saw 367 people fall ill, 246 of them schoolgirls. The CDC reported that 67% of the patients in the epidemic's second wave were schoolgirls and that symptoms "developed in persons of all age groups and both sexes in an area of east Jenin after local residents observed a car moving through the streets emitting a thick cloud of smoke. The third wave was on April 3 with most of the cases in the Hebron area. Schools were closed in the West Bank after the April 3 outbreak and the epidemic ended.〔''Epidemic of Acute Illness - West Bank'', Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Centers for Disease Control, April 29, 1983〕 "Data collected in these investigations indicate that the West Bank epidemic was triggered either by psychological factors, or, more probably, by the odor of low, sub-toxic concentrations of H((2))S gas escaping from a latrine at the secondary school in Arrabah. Subsequent propagation of the outbreak was mediated by psychological factors, occurred against a background of anxiety and stress, and may have been facilitated by newspaper and radio reports that described the symptoms in detail and suggested strongly that a toxic gas was the cause. The epidemic was probably terminated by the closing of West Bank schools," the CDC concluded. "No evidence was encountered to indicate that patients had deliberately or consciously fabricated their symptoms. Evidence against malingering was provided by normal findings on physical examination."〔 Albert Hefez, the lead psychiatric investigator of the epidemic for the Israeli Ministry of Health, found that it spread through the community much like the Tanganyika laughter epidemic, though he also said its spread was boosted by the reporting of the Israeli press and Palestinian distrust of Israel's intentions in the West Bank. "The social and historical context of this incident may throw light on the subsequent snowballing of events," he wrote. "The Djenin area is located in the Jordan West Bank region occupied by Israeli forces since the 1967 six-day war. The Arab population perceives the situation as a temporary occupation but some tend to believe that the Israelis would do anything to perpetuate the status quo." Hefez writes that the outbreak really spread after a March 26 article in the newspaper ''Ma'Ariv'' headlined "The Mysterious Poisoning goes on: 56 High School Girls in Djenin Poisoned." "The headline regarding a ‘mysterious poisoning’ implied in Hebrew the presence of an unknown perpetrator. No mention was made of the fate of the first group of girls… This increased the fear and suspicion already existing among the Arab population,” he wrote. He also identifies a front page article from ''Haaretz'' on March 28 as feeding local hysteria. That article said Israeli investigators had found preliminary indications that nerve gas had been used and that "Israeli army sources suspected an attempt to provoke the Arab population in anticipation of the coming 'Day of the Land.'" The psychiatrist writes that these reports spread panic. "Not only was the number of effected persons increasing rapidly, but some unknown agent was poisoning the public. The answer to the ultimate question of ‘Who is behind it?’ would obviously depend on ones political affiliation. Thus the accusational tone and statements became even more apparent." He points to a ''Ma'Ariv'' article from March 31 that put forth the hypothesis that Palestinian activists were putting out a false story to provoke an uprising. Some Israeli doctors theorized the girls were playacting.〔''The Role of the Press and the Medical Community in the epidemic of "Mysterious Gas Poisoning" in the Jordan West Bank'', Albert Hefez, American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, pg. 837, July 1985.〕 The Palestinian counter-narrative emerged quickly, he wrote. "The Arab league accused Israel of using chemical weapons to exterminate Arab people, and Arab doctors from Tul-Karem Hospital raised suspicion that the gas was intended to produce sterility in the affected girls."〔''The Role of the Press and the Medical Community in the epidemic of "Mysterious Gas Poisoning" in the Jordan West Bank'', Albert Hefez, American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, pg. 837, July 1985.〕 The epidemic had peaked by April 1, Hefez found. "The official communiqué rejecting any poisoning etiology, published in the morning paper ''Haaretz'' on April 1, appeared at the peak of this final wave. Although several cases appeared after this report, the panic declined."〔''The Role of the Press and the Medical Community in the epidemic of "Mysterious Gas Poisoning" in the Jordan West Bank'', Albert Hefez, American Journal of Psychiatry, 142, pg. 833-837, July 1985.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1983 West Bank fainting epidemic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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