Three of the original 12 students with tic-like symptoms in Le Roy had preexisting conditions
Three of the original 12 students who displayed tic-like symptoms at Le Roy High School had preexisting conditions, according to a report released today by the NYS Department of Health.
One of the students had previously been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and suffered an acceleration of symptoms during the onset of the 12 cases.
The other eight students were diagnosed with conversion disorder.
Three more students have been identified since the DOH started preparing its report.
The age range of the students is 13 to 19.
From the report, "All 12 students were evaluated by Work Fit Medical and eight of the 12 were evaluated by DENT Neurologic Institute."
Two of the three students with preexisting conditions had been tic free for some time, but experienced an exacerbation of tic symptoms during this time period.
Of the original 12, significant life stressors were identified in 11 patients.
One of the original 12 students did not seek medical treatment.
The report goes into some detail on the investigative process the DOH went through to examine the case.
As part of the environmental evaluation, the DOH states it, "consulted with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the Lehigh Valley Railroad Derailment Superfund Site and reviewed information pertaining to the Lapp Insulator and Target Products sites to determine the potential for spread of contamination to the school campus."
It also states:
Interviews of the 12 cases did not reveal any common environmental exposures, other than attendance at the same school. The occurrence of symptoms in only female students and the range of time of symptom onset are not consistent with an environmental cause.
An exhaustive search of prior reports of environmental contamination causing tic disorders showed only a couple of cases worldwide, according to the report.
As for infectious causes, the 12 students did not have common experiences to explain an infectious onset.
"Drug use was ruled out based on interviews with all the cases, and toxicology screens on seven of the cases," states the report.
Seven students received Gardisil.
"Six of seven cases who received Gardisil had onset of tic symptoms greater than one year after their last dose of vaccine," states the report.
According to the report, none of the cases were consistent with PANDAS.
The report also states:
A post-licensure safety study of HPV vaccine among 189,629 females completed by an independent safety team of experts, identified no association between vaccination with Gardisil and neurologic disorders
In its conclusion, the report states:
The healthcare providers and public health agencies involved in this investigation consider this cluster of cases to be the result of conversion disorder/mass psychogenic illness.
...
While outbreaks of psychiatric or neurologic disease without clear explanation are unusual, similar cases have been documented (11-14). The conversion disorder/mass psychogenic illness conclusion is based on individual medical evaluations, the presence of significant life stressors, and demographic characteristics of the cases. It is uncertain what role conversion disorder played in the recurrence/acceleration of symptoms in the three cases with preexisting medical conditions.
The report encourages families of affected children to continue individualized care with their treating physicians.
Read the full report (PDF).