MPI Incidents in Singapore (Phoon, 1982)
MPI Incidents in Singapore (Phoon, 1982)
- 6 outbreaks of MPI in factories in Singapore are described
- Common features of these outbreaks included:
- Outbreaks mainly, though not exclusively, involved women workers
- Outbreaks occurred with a sudden onset without warning
- High degree of “infectiousness” or communicability from person to person and department to department
- High rate of repeat attacks for the same affected persons
- High prevalence of beliefs about being possessed by spirits
- Symptoms included headache, nausea, giddiness, hyperventilating, spasms, crying, screaming, feeling cold, numbness
- When “triggering incidents” could be identified these often included chemical smells.