2014 El Carmen de Bolívar illness outbreak
Beginning in March 2014 and increasing substantially in May and June 2014, over 600 teenage girls and women in El Carmen de Bolívar, Colombia developed medically unexplained symptoms, including fainting, twitching, and loss of consciousness. Media and residents suggested the symptoms resulted from HPV vaccines, although health officials found no link between the vaccine and the symptoms. The event has been labeled as an example of mass psychogenic illness by medical professionals and by then-Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos.
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