CC2: Hiccups

On FoxNews.com, a recent article by Ethan Forman, talking about multiple students who are suffering from having unexplained hiccups at Massachusetts high school. These hiccups began between November and December of 2012, when two to three parents contacted Mirandi, the health director for Davens, office about their children.

An investigation is underway at Essex Agricultural and Technical High School in Danvers, Mass., where more than a dozen students have been experiencing bizarre hiccups, the Salem News reported. The Massachusetts Department of Health is working with local health officials in order to better help the community. “The school is willing to do whatever the town and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health want to do,” said Essex Aggie Superintendent-Director Roger Bourgeois. Bourgeois goes on to say "The health and well-being of our kids is our number one priority."


Peter Mirandi, the health director for Danvers, said, "no physicians have officially diagnosed or confirmed any of the students’ cases." This means that health officials cannot determine what the cause of these hiccups are from yet. Mirandi also says, “I have no confirmed cases of something; we don’t know if it’s a contagious disease or an environmentally induced disorder. It’s not responsible for me to say anything further on it."

 The situation is similar to a synopsis that occurred at Le Roy High School in upstate New York, where 12 girls suffered from hiccups comparable to Tourette syndrome.  An investigation into the incident did not reveal any environmental causes for the ‘outbreak,’ leading one doctor to be inclined to think the girls may be suffering from mass hysteria brought on by stress. I've heard about the girl from Florida who had had the hiccups for thirtyeight days straight. Having the hiccups for so long just seems so weird to me.

Personally, if I were to have the hiccups and then caused others to get them I would think I was some sort of magical person. It makes no sense when hiccups become like some sort of "virus".