‘Mass psychogenic illness’ caused toxic substance alert at Heathrow, says scientist | Heathrow airport

Monday afternoon of 21 people were sick in the Terminal 4th Monday afternoon Heathrow was called to the police. The first reports argued that a dangerous material could be included and some of the airport was evacuated. However, when emergency services made a comprehensive search, no trace of negative substances could not be found.

A source within the metropolitan police suggested that the activity could be quite different later – mass hysteria. And some experts agree.

“What is in Heathrow is almost a part of the psychogenic illness, almost absolutely concerned,” said Auckland University of Sociologist. Robert Bartholomew.

“Mass Hysteria” can bring to mind medieval reports Dance and “Ownership” outbreaks and outbreaksSuch events are not known in the modern world.

The term, which has historical stamps and is generally applied to situations from mass stamps to moral panics, is out of use. Such events are now known as “mass psychogenic illness” or “mass sociogenic illness-, which is now two main forms-others.

Among the first examples of the first, there was a lawsuit at Leroy High School in New York in 2011, where the affected students exhibited motor tics such as vocal and twitching and spasm. While some are afraid that an environmental toxic is in the game, experts identified the situation as a case of mass psychogenic illness, It was aggravated with participation in social or traditional media.

Bartholomew, Salem, Massachusetts, refers to a poor 1692 epidemic, “These outbreaks emerge in a anxiety atmosphere that can spread for weeks or months. Long -term stress breeding nerves and neurons,” he said.

He said that anxiety -based cases are typically triggered by a sudden perception of a toxic agent, such as a non -familiar fragrance. “Common symptoms include headache, excessive breath, dizziness and fainting,” he said, the sections tend to leave the blue, and the victims often tend to heal within minutes.

This is a kind of event that Bartholomew believes in Heathrow. Orum I always say that you should investigate the diagnosis of the mass psychogenic disease, ”he said.

“But they went there and tested it and tested it negatively. [And there was]Fast start and healing, benign, temporary symptoms. “

“I suspect that the person who was taken to the hospital may be a pre -existing situation and probably made as a precaution.”

If the diagnosis of psychogenic illness is correct, an airport is not connected to such an event for the first time: Bartholomew investigated a case in which 57 people became ill at Melbourne Airport in 2005 “After reporting the smell of gassy“. Bartholomew A toxic agent may cause some individuals to be disturbed, but all signs suggest mass psychogenic disease.

Such events may not be rare. In the 2010 studyResearchers randomly chose 280 of the 747 report of chemical events from the former British Health Protection Agency and found 19. Again, the researchers found that the smell is a solid predictor of such events, and that schools and health facilities are common environments.

“An important minority of chemical events may be mass psychogenic disease,” he said.

Prof of King’s College London, a part of the team, said that it was “a little early ve to come to judgments on the Heathrow event, and whether it was an unusual smell or what investigations were made to eliminate other causes. But he added: “If all this does not come to anything, then yes, this can now be a part of what we call sociojenic illness.”

Bartholomew stressed that the disease was not a mental disorder and the victims are not psychologically disturbed.

“It is described as a collective reaction to a belief in the best way. We all have beliefs, so we are all potential victims,” he said. “Not all in their minds’ because real symptoms live.”

Wesssely added: “After the study, we have never found anything different about those affected by non -study.

Wesssely said that there is nothing unusual about the events in Terminal 4 on Monday: “Every day, it takes place in crowded areas such as schools, concerts, crowds, factory floors, etc. every day.