LeRoy Mystery Illness Symptoms May Be Spreading Through Social Media

The search for answers continues in the LeRoy High School mystery illness case, and one expert's new hypothesis proposes that symptoms may be spreading through social media.

Currently, over a dozen teen girls and one adult in New York have reported experiencing the same Tourette's-like symptoms of twtiching, tics, and uncontrollable verbal outbursts. With the case now generating a great deal of media attention and public interest, some of the teens affected have been posting videos of their symptoms on YouTube, Facebook and other social networking channels.

University at Buffalo neurology professor Dr. David Lichter suggests that the spread of the symptoms may be caused by students unconsciously mimicking symptoms that they've seen in videos uploaded onto social media sites, WKBW News reports.

Lichter told WKBW: "I think you do have the potential for people going online and witnessing other student's behavior, then I think this medium has the potential to spread it beyond the immediate environment."

Thus far, the illness has been diagnosed as conversion disorder (formerly known as "mass hysteria"), which is the physical expression of psychological stress.

Angry and confused LeRoy parents gathered at a public meeting this weekend to demand answers about whether the school is safe. After extensive testing, the school district reported finding no environmental cause for the symptoms. Results of the testing have all come back negative. A team of environmentalists, led by Erin Brockovich, are testing soil samples to see if the illness could be related to a chemical spill from a train wreck near the school years earlier.

Comments

[Patrik]

07:07 AM on 02/16/2012

I heard that the total effected with tourettes-like tics, at this point, has grown to 20 with 4 new diagnosis last week alone.

[DFPawlowski]

04:11 PM on 02/12/2012

The toxicology angle seems plausible but can probably be tracked down by taking hair samples of the young women and then performing mass spectrometry to look for the presence of alleged toxic waste metabolites. Follow up with an EPA study of the school and municipal water supply sampled directly at the tap. The hair analysis method is typically used for forensic investigations such as checking Napoleon's hair for arsenic or modern folks for the presence of drug metabolites of interest, the method will easily pick up weird compounds like those alleged might be present from the 70's spill buried in the cross section of the hair that might have been consumed. This social media thing is a bit dodgy. Sounds like something someone put together to pull the masses to a website for revenue generating click thru count. As for the apparent copy cat peer pressure hypothesis, I don't know if Central New York has enough LA valley girls in it 'like you know', but like whatever they will figure it out 'kay? Seems like the bacterial or viral infection such as a mono cluster that affected the facial nerve like Bell's Palsy still deserves consideration. Strange how this last point has been swept aside. Hope the CDC or a big name University gets involved as a public health initiative.

[opinionator63]

10:35 AM on 02/11/2012

Ok, then, what ABOUT P.A.N.D.A.S.? Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder? It's caused by strep. The Antibodies formed during a strep infection attack the brain, causing these very symptoms. It can cause these symptoms in some kids and remain silent in others. If there was a strep epidemic in that high school (strep infections are very virile and contagious), then it wouldn't be unheard of for these kids to have P.A.N.D.A.S. The symptoms are EXACTLY that of pandas, along with bedwetting and hair pulling in some cases. If these kids knew each other or shared surfaces they may have spread the strep to each other. Maybe it's a particular strain of strep that causes it. Treatment with anti-psychotics DOES NOT WORK in these cases.

[opinionator63]

10:16 AM on 02/11/2012

Independent studies have shown that doctors often refer patients to psychiatrists or psychologists when they (the doctors) don't know what's wrong with the patient. If that patient goes to other doctors, a true, viable diagnosis is usually found. This tendency to write off the symptoms of a patient when the doctor is unable to immediately diagnose it is especially pervasive when the patient is female, and even more so when the patient is a female teenager. In other words, the kids may not be faking it - the egos of the doctors and the chemical companies may be mishandling a serious situation. I lived in an area where contaminants were leaking into the ground and both our dogs suddenly developed "epilepsy" and I suddenly had a swollen liver. A year later, the entire area was evacuated when they discovered the toxic leak. I wouldn't be too quick to write this off, even though it could be mass hysteria...

[birddog42]

09:12 AM on 02/11/2012

Someone needs to take a step back and think about what teenage girls have in common 1) starting their cycles 2) maybe starting birth control 3) using facial creams to fight pimples caused by puberty 4) starting to use make=up 5) trying fad diets ....now break each of those down and consider the possibility of a batch of birth control pills, face creams, makeup products, etc. sold in a local drugstore possibly contaminated with something. A local doctor providing perscription drug samples that are "bad?" Planned Parenthood giving out samples?

[rosspat93]

12:04 AM on 02/11/2012

Hmmm...so they have an illness possibly caused from social media and the girls are using social media to advertise this "illness"? ....interesting.

[KarenBryanBSRN]

08:01 AM on 04/24/2012

(ross) in short they are pointing to this as a version of mass hysteria. Like symptoms due to emotional involvement due to video not a bad explanation as long as there are no antibodies common to various diseases that do spread through such populations, however, they'd likely be within the same environment (not on the net btw lol)! You are fanned!

[rosspat93]

09:57 AM on 04/25/2012

Ha okay, I didn't mean they were transmitting the illness through the net?? I'm not stupid. I just found it funny that they were still using internet and computers when that's suppose to be the cause of their hysteria. I just think it's all fake.

[rosspat93]

12:00 AM on 02/11/2012

Hmmmm....they have an illness that's possibly caused by social media so they use social media to advertise their illness....interesting.

[Verriderrti]

11:56 PM on 02/10/2012

Elaborate Hoax....

[Roseytree]

10:21 PM on 02/10/2012

How about facial makeup? Or hair products? Is it possible?

[Yaelle Glenn]

10:21 PM on 02/10/2012

parents are angry at the school. really. that'll get them some results.

[NobleTry]

02:11 PM on 02/11/2012

I know. I saw the part with one of the mothers yelling at the school board members, really, shouting at them. And shaking her finger. That'll help the cause. Sheesh.

[10LittleIndians]

09:37 PM on 02/10/2012

I think they just like the attention plus they have an excuse to miss school.

[smokeshifter]

07:27 PM on 02/10/2012

Whatever's causing it it's clear that those girls are not "faking it". They're freaked out! And if I was the mother one any one of these girls I would be DEEPLY concerned. What if this were your child..would some of you with the nasty comments be feeling differently then? Yes.

[Mrs Robinsons]

07:21 PM on 02/10/2012

They need a spiritual translator...
I am sure.

[Internet Comment]

07:14 PM on 02/10/2012

Reminiscent of another time in a place called Salem ..... just saying

[sturho]

07:12 PM on 02/10/2012

Unconciously micmicking the problem? I think it is being done on purpose. Also, lately, we have had a rash of school girls saying that they were inappropriately touched or otherwise molested by male teachers. What is going on here! In my school days 70 years ago, we were kept in line, both at school and at home. It is time to get the line toed again.
My sister tells me that a part-time teacher that she knows has been driven from a classroom by the terrible outbursts of students. Yelling the f word and other loud lewdness.

[KarenBryanBSRN]

08:03 AM on 04/24/2012

(sturho) Over the past several years there was a rash in the northeast of girls deciding to get pregnant and I believe over 25 in one area followed through think about the cost to society (they go on Medicaid, et al.) and to their families...You are fanned.