A case history of industrial mass psychogenic illness is reported. About 75 employees of a shoe factory (SIC-3143) reported symptoms of headache, lightheadedness, and dizziness on two separate occasions within a 1 week period. Air samples were collected and analyzed, affected workers were interviewed, and questionnaires were distributed to a random sample of workers. Extensive environmental testing failed to identify any toxic agents. Physicians characterized the physical symptomatology as hyperventilation syndrome, suggesting a psychogenic as opposed to a toxicological etiology. Most survey variables that correlated with the illness, pertained to work environment factors; these included dissatisfaction with physical characteristics of the workplace, overtime pressures, and workload dissatisfaction. Workers who witnessed others become ill also reported experiencing more symptoms. The authors conclude that the outbreak represents a case of industrial mass psychogenic illness precipitated by a combination of physical and psychological job and life stressors.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.