"Mass Psychosis" Was Poisoning

A report from Kavkazskiy uzel (Caucasian Knot) discloses that the strange illness which was contracted by two groups of Chechen children in recent months, and was diagnosed as “mass psychosis” by Russian psychiatrists, turns out to have actually been caused by poisoning:

Elena Shelchenko, the head physician of the sanatorium “Nart,” has told the correspondent of the “Caucasian Knot” that the following symptoms were observed in children: weakness, fever, asphyxia and faints. Sometimes - hysterics, acute cramp and convulsions. Frequently - hallucinations, numbness of extremities,
nasal bleeding. During the attacks, suicide attempts were observed.

Some children were examined at the Serbskiy Institute of Forensic Psychiatry and diagnosed as “mass psychosis.”

After a careful examination of the children, the doctors came to the conclusion that the case was chronic intoxication of organism with a dominating defeat of the gastrointestinal tract and liver (in 35 children, chronic cholecystitis and toxic hepatitis were identified), and diffused liver changes.