Twitching Illness Hits Virginia School

[Big War Bird]

'Twitching' Illness Hits Several Students, Staff at Virginia School
Wednesday, November 07, 2007


VINTON, Va. —

A mysterious illness causing an odd "twitching" symptom has stricken several students and a staff member at a Virginia high school.

Testing continues at William Byrd High School in Roanoke County where students and staff have shown strange symptoms of twitching and spasms since September, but a cause has yet to be determined.

About 30 students staged a walkout and protest earlier this week, and the school has said about 300 of the school's 1,200 students have been absent.

School officials say they do not plan to close the school.

Roanoke County school officials and health officials have found no environmental cause for the symptoms, which have affected fewer than 10 students, the Associated Press reported.

"I have seen them in the hallway, and it seems pretty bad," said senior Charlie Wallace, told the Roanoke Times. "It's uncontrollable. Twitching, that's the only way you can describe it."

Students and parents met Monday night with officials from the school system, the Virginia Department of Health and the companies conducting the environmental tests.

Parents asked about the symptoms and urged officials to close the school and offer classes elsewhere. But Superintendent Lorraine Lange said that health experts said that based on the environmental test results, there's no need to close the school.

So far, the illness has sickened several students and a teacher at William Byrd High School and officials can't specify specific symptoms to watch out for.

But one mother said her child is experiencing bouts of sudden twitching and uncontrollable arm spasms, along with headaches and dizziness.

That's no consolation to students and parents, who paced an auditorium at a public meeting Monday night with officials from the school system, the Virginia Department of Health and the companies that conducted environmental tests.

Health experts tested for mold, and the school came up clean. Disturbed by the twitching that accompanies the illness, many students and parents want the school to remain closed.

"They wave. It's convulsing. They can't stop it," said senior Layne Gulli of the symptoms. "You don't know how to avoid it. You don't know if you're next, or if your friend is next, or if it's an epidemic."

"There's rumors it was carbon dioxide from the photography room," said sophomore Joe Bradshaw. "We heard it was lead paint. Nobody knows what it is.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308958,00.html

Any thoughts?

[Spurius]

Insecticides.

They're basically thinned-down neurotoxins.

[The Fish]

The uncontrollable arm twitching and waving action seems to be a ballismus (chorea), which would indicate a problem in the basal ganglia portion of the brain (the same part that causes this movement in patients with Huntington's disease, or in patients on anti-Parkinson drugs). As to the cause...that's more of a mystery. Rheumatic fever has Sydenham's chorea as a major component, but it's very rare in this day and age for 10 people to get rheumatic fever (which follows strep throat); an environmental factor causing basal ganglia damage would make sense.

[Richard]

Well firstly it's from Fox so the disease is clearly caused by Satan. As for a cure, in Dawn of the Dead they cure twitchers by severing the spinal cord from the brain.

[Spurius]

I still think it's something like Malathion, if that breaks down indoors to malaoxon you've got a problem, since that's 60 times more powerful yet.

Most common organophosphate insecticide, also used a lot to combat West-Nile virus. Maybe they've been fogging wasps under the floor and someone leaked a container. It's used against headlice, too (school?).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malathion

[The Fish]

Organophosphate poisoning has very distinctive symptoms; we would expect the students to have signs of irreversible acetylcholinesterase inhibition, such as severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, excessive salivation and lacrimation, miosis, etc. If it was organophosphate poisoning, it's unlikely it would be such a mystery. There's always the chance of an atypical presentation, but in 10 students? Not likely.

[Spurius]

All correct - but I do believe I read the symptoms begin with muscle twitches. Usually enough reason for someone to leave the premises and stay home, you'd say, so the symptoms don't get worse, maybe?

Or maybe it's some low-level carbon-monoxide poisoning, IIRC in Spain they had people with muscle-cramps and contractions who burned gas from bottles in poorly ventilated places.

[Jabberwock]

Mass hysteria?

It's happened before in a school. It's just a wild uneducated guess.

[Spurius]

Mass hysteria?

It's happened before in a school. It's just a wild uneducated guess.

Must admit it crossed my mind as well. We're group animals, and school's a good place to do group behavior.

[Beiss]

Uncontrollable twitching? "Group behaviour"? I doubt it...

[Spurius]

As in copycatting, which is pretty hard to do in isolation. Think 'pretending you have an itch' - some people just cannot stop themselves from doing it too. They'll start scratching as well.

[Beiss]

That's true, but twitching?

[Spurius]

Again, it just crossed my mind, and it's not very likely - but also not altogether impossible, maybe.

And (auto)suggestion can be pretty powerful, mind you.

Maybe some of you heavy boozers know it in a small way, like having a HORRIBLE hangover, and your hands are a bit shaky maybe (sign to lay it off for a while, for sure).

You notice, and you don't like it. You fear others will maybe notice, too. You get nervous, the shaking gets worse.

Other people DO begin to take notice, and panic sets in. The shaking now REALLY gets bad, and you have to go to the bathroom all of a sudden.

Self-fulfilling prophecy. The shaking is real, even though it never started that bad, the rest is suggestion.

[Beiss]

But others don't start shaking only because you do, do they?

[Spurius]

You wouldn't think so, no.

I'll do some digging, see what 'mass hysteria' effects can and cannot do. Might contain some surprises, and maybe even a hint.

[Cluny the Scourge]

The condition is obviously St. Vitus' Dance and is probably a delayed judgement of God on the Virginians for seceding from the Union.

Though, as I recall, the virus in 28 Days/Weeks Later starts with uncontrollable twitching. It's when their eyes start weeping blood that you know you have to find a weapon.

[Kiljan Arslan]

Well if their pentecostals I think then we have the answer.

[Mighty]

I dont know if its just me or not, but everything seems to be going wrong in Virginia this year

[Spurius]

BTW I suspect the doctors called it 'involuntary twitching' more than 'uncontrollable', probably inserted by a journalist to make the article more accessible, but thereby also introducing connotations of people shaking out of their chairs.

It could be less dramatic that that word implies, I mean.

[Beiss]

Reading the article, I pictured students having epileptic-like spasms on the hallway floors. So I guess the journalist did good job!