Taplejung, September 21:

Change secondary school in Taplejung district today shut down after girl students there began getting sudden fainting spells. After the local public health post could not provide any explanation for the mystery disease, locals sought out shamans to treat the girls.

This is the first instance of the disease afflicting students in Taplejung district. Earlier, the mystery disease was confined to hill districts and some other districts in the Tarai. School principal Madan Angbohang said the school had to be closed as the students had been afflicted for a week. He added that 22 students were afflicted with the disease which entailed babbling, hot flushes in the entire body and fainting. Most of the affected students are from class 9 and 10. Teacher Durga Niroula said the mystery disease was taking an epidemic form.

Karna Angbohang of Change-4 said he took his daughter to the local health post after she began getting fainting spells but none of the health workers at the post could diagnose the disease. He added that he had no recourse but to get her treated by shamans.

School management committee chairman Dambar Limbu said the decision to close the school was taken yesterday after the mystery disease gripped the students. He said he was unable to say when the school would reopen.