A study on mass hysteria (monkey men?) victims in East Delhi.

During the summer month of May 2001 East Delhi came in grip of an outbreak of mass hysteria. Initial reports alleged that some monkey like creature attacked and caused injuries among number of persons. A medical board was set up to examine and find out the cause of injuries in the victims of the outbreak as a part exercise to apprehend the culprit. The study describes the sociodemographic pattern and injuries observed in these cases. Majority of victims were adult males, belonging to low socioeconomic strata and having low educational level. The incidents occurred mainly during night at the time of power failure. The type, distribution and characteristic of the injuries suggested of their accidental nature. The paper also discusses the role of forensic experts and press in such outbreak.