Environmental activist Erin Brockovich has begun to investigate a mysterious illness that has affected 15 teenagers in Le Roy N.Y., causing them to experience verbal out bursts and facial tics.
According to USA today, so far 15 teens - one boy and 14 girls - have been showing symptoms of this mysterious illness and have been told they are suffering from conversion disorder. Brockovich began her probe after parents of the affected teens asked her to look into the case. She began studying state and federal reports of a train derailment that occurred in 1970 and spilled trichloroethene and cyanide within three miles of the high school attended by many of the teens who became sick.
A report by the U.S. environmental Protection Agency says that 35,000 gallons of trichloroethene and one ton of cyanide crystals spilled into the ground. The agency report says that the cyanide crystals were removed but the trichloroethene was absorbed into the ground.
“Conversion disorder is characterized by problems with voluntary motor or sensory function that suggest a neurological or other general medical condition but aren't fully consistent with known biological causes or explanations.” said David Fassler, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at the University of Vermont in Burlington.
He added that such outbreaks are associated with anxiety or stress and are more common in females.
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