ON THE ORIGIN OF MASS CASUALTY INCIDENTS IN KOSOVO, YUGOSLAVIA, IN 1990

In March 1990, a mysterious outbreak of illness spread suddenly among thousands of ethnic Albanian high school students in Kosovo (Yugoslavi a). It was an unprecedented event on the worldwide scale both in terms of-the number of cases and in terms of controversies concerning the a etiology. A retrospective analysis indicated that the epidemic consist ed mainly of cases who felt ill iii the absence of exposure to any phy sical agent. It is suggested that in an atmosphere of severe tension b etween the two ethnic groups living in Kosovo an increased frequency o f respiratory infections may have triggered mass sociogenic illness.