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By Paul Rodgers
In 2016, CIA officers in Havana, Cuba, began to have unexplained health problems. They report a constant piercing sound, followed by symptoms including headache, nausea, dizziness, difficulty concentrating and memory loss. Was it a new condition? Or was this the last case of the age-old phenomenon of mass psychogenic diseases, formerly called mass hysteria?
Since 2016, hundreds of incidents of what is now called Havana Syndrome have been recorded by US intelligence and foreign service officials on a growing list of global locations, including Russia and China. As most worked in espionage hotspots surrounded by traditional US opponents, many in the US government and media soon began to suspect unfair play.
Others are skeptical, theorizing that mass psychogenic illness (MPI) is indeed behind Havana syndrome. “Mass hysteria is an outbreak of a physical illness in a group that seems to have an organic or physiological cause, but actually stems from psychological causes, often anxiety,” said Gary Small, MD, professor of psychiatry at UCLA.
The issue is far from resolved. But MPI is not a new phenomenon; examples pop up throughout history. And while symptoms, patients and locations vary, some trends remain stable: these diseases are often born of stress and spread like wildfire to nearby social networks. No two “epidemics” are exactly alike, but history can shed light on the current murky situation: If Havana syndrome is a different MPI, how can it be compared to MPI in the past? Can historical cases of mass psychogenic diseases contribute to a better understanding of this elusive medical mystery?
Dancing Mania, 1518
MPI has been recognized since the Middle Ages. Dance mania was first reported in Europe in the 7th century and reappeared on this continent until the 17th century, involving huge crowds dancing chaotically sometimes for days at a time. A remarkable epidemic of 1518 began with the feverish hunting of a lonely woman on the streets of Strasbourg in modern-day France. Theories as to why groups of up to 400 people followed suit include stress-induced psychosis as a result of widespread disease and hunger in the region.
Trials against witches in Salem, 1692
The infamous witchcraft cases in Salem, Massachusetts, 1692-1693, were the answer to many girls who had strange, unexplained seizures. The cause of these convulsions and their interpretation as evidence of sorcery are still under discussion. But collective tensions as a result of recent epidemics and post-traumatic stress disorder from King William’s ongoing war, of which many of the girls affected were refugees, have been cited as factors.
“You tend to see models,” says Small. “Affected people are often in isolated situations. There is some kind of stress that the group is experiencing without any means to deal with it. “
Laughter epidemic in Tanganyika, 1962
The 1962 Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic began at a mission-run girls’ school in Kashasha, Tanzania. Starting with three students, the laughter, which lasted up to several days, spread throughout the school, forcing it to close. The epidemic then spread to a village where several students returned.
Incident with a school game in Boston, 1979
Small co-authored a study of an incident in 1979 at an elementary school in Boston, when during a performance in a play at the end of the year, an influential boy became dizzy and fell, bleeding profusely. This caused psychogenic reactions, including dizziness, hyperventilation and abdominal pain in one third of the student body.
“There are a number of psychological stressors among these children, not to mention anxiety about the performance they experience,” said Small, whose findings suggest a link between childhood loss, such as parental divorce or family death, and susceptibility to MPI.
Outbreak epidemic in the West Bank, 1983
In 1983, an outbreak of mass seizures and nausea affected 943 Palestinian girls and several female Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank. Israel and Palestine exchanged allegations of chemical warfare, but a local health official eventually concluded that while the first 20 percent of cases were likely caused by unidentified gas, the rest were essentially psychosomatic, according to Time magazine.
Disease of Santa Monica, 1989
A UCLA investigation into a 1989 incident in which 247 female performers, most of them women, became severely ill at the Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica also noted that children who saw a friend fall ill were most likely to develop symptoms that are thus transmitted through social networks.
Incident with leg pain in Mexico City, 2006
Hundreds of girls at a boarding school near Mexico City experienced unexplained leg pain, nausea and fever in 2006-2007. It was a closed community, with students denied access to television or radio. The near-family ties between them may have contributed to what psychiatrist Nashiela Loa Zavala, who is investigating the case, called MPI’s “audiovisual contagion.”
How to compare Havana syndrome
There are commonalities between at least some cases of Havana syndrome and historical outbreaks of MPI. MPI usually starts among a small, cohesive group of people with a higher status, in a stressful situation and then spreads.
“The participation of four [CIA agents] from the same station is a defining characteristic of mass psychogenic diseases, which are known to follow social networks, “said New Zealand-based medical sociologist Robert Bartholomew, Ph.D.
Most cases of Havana syndrome are staff isolated from home in foreign embassies, unlike boarding school students involved in many MPI outbreaks. They are associated with a stressful work environment, under constant surveillance, and are probably aware of Russia’s alleged previous use of microwave broadcasts to disrupt US intelligence. However, for reasons of national security, they are usually unable to share their concerns with family or “civilian” friends.
Some symptoms previously attributed to MPI, including headache, dizziness, and nausea, are associated with Havana syndrome. Bartholomew suggested that “reshaping” these common complaints from those affected to reflect what doctors and government officials are telling them could contribute to the phenomenon. In other words, people may experience common symptoms common in MPI and be prone to ominous explanations – without any evidence of them.
Outbreaks of Havana syndrome are sometimes thousands of miles apart, seemingly eliminating the audiovisual contagion. But the Internet is redefining the concept of “community” to transcend geographical proximity. Social media and online news have undoubtedly made American diplomats and intelligence officers familiar with graphic descriptions of Havana’s symptoms by colleagues around the world, some of whom they would have known personally from previous publications.
However, Havana syndrome does not meet all the general criteria for MPI. Small noted “a predominance of symptoms [of MPI] for girls or women compared to boys or men. ” In fact, the MPI disproportionately affects young girls more than any other demographic. However, the majority of cases of Havana syndrome are middle-aged men.
There is no consensus on the cause of Havana syndrome. Theories range from mating crickets to sonic weapons. Some experts argue that the early cases of Havana syndrome are unequivocal evidence of neurological damage consistent with exposure to microwave radiation. However, they remain open to contributing psychosocial factors in at least some cases.
“We found [microwave radiation] to be most plausible in explaining a subset of cases, not all, ”said David Rellman, MD, a microbiologist at Stanford University who is leading the National Academy of Sciences’ research on Havana Syndrome. Relman said the subgroup includes staff from the US Embassy in Cuba and the US Consulate in Guangzhou, China, which is the second place where symptoms are reported.
James Giordano, a professor of neurology at Georgetown University and a Pentagon adviser, said the initial cases at the Havana embassy “have objective characteristics – clinically related, objective and valid and evidential – that are indicative of some form of neurological trauma or insult.” “But he noted that only a fraction of the world’s incidents have so far been confirmed to meet full, objective clinical criteria for the type of abnormal health incident known as Havana Syndrome.
After 5 years, hundreds of cases on multiple continents and a continuous, unconvincing investigation, there may never be a definitive answer as to whether Havana’s syndrome is physical or psychogenic. But history can bring more clarity than Cold War-era spy ships. Havana syndrome has some major differences from the MPI epidemics of the past, but in many ways it is more similar than it is not – and the paranoia in the American intelligence community is unlikely to be unprecedented.
Paul Rodgers is a British journalist based in Los Angeles. A graduate of the School of African and Asian Studies at the University of Sussex, his work appears in Los Angeles Times, National Geographic Traveler, LA Weekly, and many others.
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