By Paul Rogers

In 2016, CIA operatives in Havana, Cuba, suffered unexplained well being issues. They reported a persistent piercing sound, adopted by signs resembling headache, nausea, dizziness, problem concentrating and reminiscence loss. Was it a brand new situation? Or was this the ultimate occasion of the age-old phenomenon of mass psychogenic sickness, beforehand known as mass hysteria?

Since 2016, tons of of incidents of what’s now known as the “Havana Syndrome” have been recorded by U.S. intelligence and international service personnel in a rising listing of worldwide areas, together with Russia and China. As a result of most labored in hotbeds of espionage, surrounded by conventional American adversaries, many inside the U.S. authorities and media shortly started to suspect foul play.

Others are skeptical and theorize that mass psychogenic sickness (MPI) is de facto behind Havana syndrome. “Mass hysteria is an outbreak of bodily illness in a bunch that seems to have an natural or physiological trigger, however in actuality arises from psychological causes, usually from concern,” says Gary Small, MD, professor of psychiatry at UCLA.

The query is way from resolved. However MPI is just not a brand new phenomenon; examples seem all through historical past. And whereas the signs, sufferers and areas range, some tendencies stay secure: These ailments usually come up from stress and unfold like wildfire amongst close-knit social networks. No two 'epidemics' are precisely the identical, however historical past can shed some mild on the present murky state of affairs: If Havana Syndrome is one other MPI, how does it examine to MPIs prior to now? Can historic examples of mass psychogenic sickness contribute to a greater understanding of this elusive medical enigma?

MPI has been acknowledged because the Center Ages. Dancing mania was first reported in seventh century Europe and reappeared on that continent till the seventeenth century, with large crowds generally dancing irregularly for days at a time. A notable outbreak in 1518 started with the frantic ranting of a lonely girl on the streets of Strasbourg, in modern-day France. Theories as to why teams of as much as 400 individuals adopted swimsuit embody stress-induced psychosis attributable to widespread illness and famine within the area.

The notorious Salem, MA, witch trials of 1692-1693 had been a response to numerous ladies struggling weird, unexplained seizures. The reason for these convulsions and their interpretation as proof of witchcraft are nonetheless debated. However collective tensions attributable to current epidemics and post-traumatic stress issues as a result of ongoing King William's Battle, from which lots of the affected ladies had been refugees, have been cited as components.

“You are likely to see patterns,” says Small. “The affected individuals are usually in remoted conditions. There’s a sort of stress that the group experiences with none strategy to resolve it.”

The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic of 1962 started at a mission-run ladies' boarding college in Kashasha, Tanzania. Beginning with three college students, suits of laughter that lasted for a number of days unfold all through the varsity, forcing its closure. The epidemic then unfold to a village to which a number of college students had returned.

Small co-authored a research of a 1979 incident at a Boston elementary college when an influential boy turned dizzy throughout a year-end play and fell, bleeding profusely. This induced psychogenic reactions in a 3rd of scholars, together with dizziness, hyperventilation and stomach ache.

“There are a selection of psychological stressors in these youngsters, not to mention the concern of failure that they expertise,” says Small, whose findings urged a hyperlink between childhood loss, resembling parental divorce or household demise, and sensitivity to MPI.

In 1983, an outbreak of mass fainting and nausea affected 943 Palestinian ladies and a few feminine Israeli troopers within the occupied West Financial institution. Israel and Palestine traded accusations of chemical warfare, however in the end a neighborhood well being official concluded that whereas the primary 20% of circumstances had been probably attributable to an unknown gasoline, the remaining had been basically psychosomatic, in line with Time journal.

A UCLA research of a 1989 incident wherein 247 pupil performers, most of them ladies, turned violently in poor health on the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium additionally famous that youngsters who noticed a good friend grow to be in poor health had been more than likely to develop signs, which had been transferred by way of social media. networks.

A whole lot of women at a boarding college close to Mexico Metropolis suffered from unexplained leg ache, nausea and fever in 2006-2007. It was a closed neighborhood, with college students denied entry to tv or radio. The ensuing nearly familial ties between them could have contributed to what psychiatrist Nashyiela Loa Zavala, who investigated the case, has known as MPI's “audiovisual contamination.”

Similarities exist between not less than some circumstances of Havana syndrome and historic MPI outbreaks. MPI normally begins amongst a small, close-knit group of upper standing individuals, in a anxious state of affairs, after which spreads.

“The involvement of 4 [CIA agents] from the identical station is a defining function of mass psychogenic ailments, that are recognized to observe social networks,” says New Zealand-based medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew, PhD.

Most circumstances of Havana syndrome contain workers remoted removed from house in international embassies, just like the boarding college college students concerned in lots of MPI outbreaks. They’re bonded by a anxious work surroundings, below fixed surveillance, and are probably conscious of Russia's alleged previous use of microwave transmissions to disrupt U.S. intelligence. However for nationwide safety causes, they’re normally unable to share associated issues with household or 'civilian associates'.

Some signs beforehand attributed to MPI, together with headache, dizziness and nausea, have been linked to Havana syndrome. Bartholomew urged that “reframing” these frequent complaints by these affected to replicate what medical doctors and authorities companies inform them might contribute to the phenomenon. In different phrases, individuals could expertise frequent signs frequent to MPI and be open to sinister explanations – with none proof for them.

Outbreaks of Havana syndrome are generally separated by 1000’s of miles, seemingly eliminating audiovisual contamination. However the Web has redefined the idea of “neighborhood” to now transcend geographic proximity. Social media and on-line information have little doubt made US diplomats and intelligence officers nicely conscious of the graphic descriptions of the signs of Havana Syndrome by colleagues all over the world, a few of whom could know them personally from earlier studies.

Nevertheless, Havana syndrome doesn’t meet all the same old MPI standards. Small seen “a preponderance of signs [of MPI] in ladies or ladies in comparison with boys or males.” MPI impacts younger ladies disproportionately greater than every other demographic group. But most circumstances of Havana syndrome are middle-aged males.

There isn’t any consensus on the reason for Havana syndrome. Theories vary from the mating name of crickets to a sonic weapon. Some consultants declare that early circumstances of Havana syndrome present unequivocal proof of neurological harm in step with microwave radiation publicity. But in some circumstances they continue to be open to contributing psychosocial components.

“We discovered [microwave radiation] to be most believable in explaining a number of the circumstances, not all of them,” says David Relman, MD, a microbiologist at Stanford College who led the Nationwide Academy of Sciences research on Havana syndrome. Relman stated this subgroup included workers from the U.S. Embassy in Cuba and from the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, the second location the place signs had been reported.

James Giordano, PhD, a professor of neurology at Georgetown College and a Pentagon adviser, stated the unique circumstances on the Havana embassy had “goal traits – clinically relatable, objectifiable, and legitimate and probative indicators – that had been indicative of some type of neurological trauma or insult.” However he famous that solely a fraction of worldwide incidents thus far have been verified as assembly full, goal scientific standards for the kind of irregular well being incident often called Havana syndrome.

After 5 years, tons of of circumstances on a number of continents, and continued, inconclusive analysis, there could by no means be a definitive reply to the query of whether or not Havana syndrome is bodily or psychogenic. However historical past can convey extra readability than Chilly Battle espionage. The Havana Syndrome has some main variations from MPI epidemics of the previous, however in some ways it’s extra comparable than not – and paranoia within the US intelligence neighborhood would hardly be unprecedented.

Paul Rogers is a British-born journalist primarily based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the College of African and Asian Research on the College of Sussex, his work has appeared within the Los Angeles Occasions, Nationwide Geographic Traveler, LA Weeklyand plenty of others.