Hundreds of students at a school in central Phu Yen Province have fainted en mass during the past two months, but health experts claim that the problem is a result of the students' psychological state.

Photo: Dan Tri

An additional 17 students at Son Thanh Tay secondary and high school fainted last Friday after nearly 100 girl students passed out in January.

The school's headmaster Chau Lot said most of the students that were passing out were female and between 13-15 years old.

Director of the provincial preventive medicine department Nguyen Hung said the mass fainting appeared to be a symptom of hysteria.

"The phenomenon often occurs with pubescent girls, who suffer from nutritional deficiencies," he said. "All of them have normal blood pressure and heart rates, but they have a difficult time breathing and have cold hands and feet."

Massage and acupuncture are the best available treatment options. The students should receive physiological treatment to prevent the phenomenon from reoccurring and should exercise more during school hours.

While some people speculated that pollution was causing the pupils' to faint, Hung said that test results proved that the environmental index was at normal levels and there were no chemical substances at the school that had affected the students' health.

He warned that parents should remain calm, which would help to prevent the phenomenon from spreading.

Headmaster Loi said the school was readjusting seating assignments and period lengths in an attempt to recalibrate the student's psychological balance.

Students fainting in mass have occurred in recent years across Viet Nam, but this is the first time the phenomenon has persisted for so long.

Source: VNS