ATA News from Albania, 96-10-09
NEW POISONING OF ALBANIAN STUDENTS IN TETOVO
TIRANA, OCT 8 (ATA) - After the poisoning of 150 students of the medical school in Tetovo three months ago, of 80 pupils in village Pirok on September 28, and 150 others in village Bubolline on October 1, new poisonings were announced Tuesday in schools of the areas inhabited by Albanians in former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
In the elementary school "Fan Noli" in the village Trebosh, Tetovo, were poisoned about 150 pupils by a still unknown microbe, reports radio the "Voice of America" (VOA).
School director Veli Vehbiu qualified these poisoning as a continuity of former ones. He said that "the lesson was interrupted from the first classes. Red marks appeared on pupils eyelids and then followed a splitting headache."
Head of Tetovo police was present on the scene followed by his men. He was cited by the VOA as saying "We have taken samples of the air and necessary investigations are under way. They will be sent to responsible institutions for analysis."
International Bodies, OSCE and the UN peace-keeping troops in Skopje were informed about this new incident. sk/n/fh/k
W.H.O. FINDS NO EXPLANATION FOR MYSTERIOUS
DISEASE AMONG ALBANIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MACEDONIA.
A group of WHO experts has issued a report on its investigation into a mysterious illness contracted by 1,000 ethnic Albanian school children in Tetovo. Some 600 had to be hospitalized for up to three days. The team conducted various tests but found no evidence of infection or poisoning to explain the illness, which causes headaches, stomach and muscle pains, breathing difficulties, and dizziness, AFP reported. Albanian political parties have alleged that Macedonians tried to poison the children. -- Fabian Schmidt
Mass hysteria
Telling the truth to the terrified.
Knowing that anxiety causes the same symptoms as poisoning could help in a biochemical attack
Zsuzsanna Jakab is director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm but, in 1996, she worked for the World Health Organisation and helped to investigate an outbreak of illness in Macedonia. It affected schoolchildren in the mainly Albanian district of Tetovo. Dr Jakab received reports from Albanian representatives of mass poisoning, which were denied by the Macedonian authorities. She led a team consisting of a paediatrician, an epidemiologist, a toxicologist and a clinical expert. They spent a couple of weeks in the region, taking samples that were sent to laboratories outside the country for analysis, reviewing the hospital's case reports, interviewing affected families and searching for possible environmental contaminants.
The team found no evidence of poisoning, and concluded that the illness was probably caused by stress resulting from high political tensions in Tetovo. Its report was rejected both by the Albanians, who continued to stick to the poisoning theory, and by the Macedonians, who denied that a climate of fear existed in the region. Nevertheless, after the team returned to explain its findings to the families, reports of symptoms gradually subsided. Dr Jakab says that a region where conspiracy theories and fear abound is a prime breeding ground for mass hysteria. In a war zone, allegations that a toxic agent has been deployed cannot be dismissed—indeed they need more urgent investigation, she says.
Source.....
Albanian Telegraphic Agency
http://www.economist.com/node/6941729
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1141281.html
NEW POISONING OF ALBANIAN STUDENTS IN TETOVO
TIRANA, OCT 8 (ATA) - After the poisoning of 150 students of the medical school in Tetovo three months ago, of 80 pupils in village Pirok on September 28, and 150 others in village Bubolline on October 1, new poisonings were announced Tuesday in schools of the areas inhabited by Albanians in former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
In the elementary school "Fan Noli" in the village Trebosh, Tetovo, were poisoned about 150 pupils by a still unknown microbe, reports radio the "Voice of America" (VOA).
School director Veli Vehbiu qualified these poisoning as a continuity of former ones. He said that "the lesson was interrupted from the first classes. Red marks appeared on pupils eyelids and then followed a splitting headache."
Head of Tetovo police was present on the scene followed by his men. He was cited by the VOA as saying "We have taken samples of the air and necessary investigations are under way. They will be sent to responsible institutions for analysis."
International Bodies, OSCE and the UN peace-keeping troops in Skopje were informed about this new incident. sk/n/fh/k
W.H.O. FINDS NO EXPLANATION FOR MYSTERIOUS
DISEASE AMONG ALBANIAN SCHOOL CHILDREN IN MACEDONIA.
A group of WHO experts has issued a report on its investigation into a mysterious illness contracted by 1,000 ethnic Albanian school children in Tetovo. Some 600 had to be hospitalized for up to three days. The team conducted various tests but found no evidence of infection or poisoning to explain the illness, which causes headaches, stomach and muscle pains, breathing difficulties, and dizziness, AFP reported. Albanian political parties have alleged that Macedonians tried to poison the children. -- Fabian Schmidt
Mass hysteria
Telling the truth to the terrified.
Knowing that anxiety causes the same symptoms as poisoning could help in a biochemical attack
Zsuzsanna Jakab is director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control in Stockholm but, in 1996, she worked for the World Health Organisation and helped to investigate an outbreak of illness in Macedonia. It affected schoolchildren in the mainly Albanian district of Tetovo. Dr Jakab received reports from Albanian representatives of mass poisoning, which were denied by the Macedonian authorities. She led a team consisting of a paediatrician, an epidemiologist, a toxicologist and a clinical expert. They spent a couple of weeks in the region, taking samples that were sent to laboratories outside the country for analysis, reviewing the hospital's case reports, interviewing affected families and searching for possible environmental contaminants.
The team found no evidence of poisoning, and concluded that the illness was probably caused by stress resulting from high political tensions in Tetovo. Its report was rejected both by the Albanians, who continued to stick to the poisoning theory, and by the Macedonians, who denied that a climate of fear existed in the region. Nevertheless, after the team returned to explain its findings to the families, reports of symptoms gradually subsided. Dr Jakab says that a region where conspiracy theories and fear abound is a prime breeding ground for mass hysteria. In a war zone, allegations that a toxic agent has been deployed cannot be dismissed—indeed they need more urgent investigation, she says.
Source.....
Albanian Telegraphic Agency
http://www.economist.com/node/6941729
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1141281.html