Folks, if your child is so addicted to Facebook and YouTube that you are even considering the idea that they have acquired a disease or tourette’s-like illness from it, it’s time to unplug.

PC Pandora will let you know if your kids are spending too much time online… something they may not be quick to admit.

Okay, so the backstory here is that a bunch of girls (and now a boy or two) are showing tourette’s-like twitching symptoms. The Daily Mail in the UK reported on this on the 5th after it had been happening for a while. One person literally suggested that this is stemming from one victim that may have an actual disorder who uploads a video and others see it, develop empathy-like similar twitches, post videos of themselves, and it spreads. Fox News, naturally, pounced on that idea… The town is going crazy and parents are frantic. They even held a town meeting.

The Daily Mail piece is highlighted below, followed by the Fox News story… but there is more, so keep reading…

February 5, 2012
Facebook to blame for the panic surrounding mysterious Tourette’s-like illness spreading in rural New York town
Total of 19 cases, including one adult, in the town of LeRoy
By Daniel Bates, Daily Mail

Facebook and YouTube could be to blame for the spread of the mystery Tourrette’s-like illness that is blighting a town in upstate New York.

Doctors said that symptoms are being ‘reinforced and magnified’ because victims of the bizarre condition are uploading videos of themselves onto social networking sites to appeal for help.

They argue that when other people in the town of LeRoy view the videos, they are unconsciously mimicking what they see and spreading it around.

The true cause of the illness is still a mystery and there no formal suggestion that Facebook or any of the other social networking websites are to blame.

But David Lichter, professor of neurology at the University of Buffalo, who has treated several of the patients, said he might now understand how it has affected so many people.

He told MSNBC: ‘It’s remarkable to see how one individual posts something, and then the next person who posts something not only are the movements bizarre and not consistent with known movement disorders, but it’s the same kind of movements.

‘This mimicry goes on with Facebook or YouTube exposure. This is the modern way that symptomology could be spread.’

In total 19 patients have come forward with Tourette’s like symptoms since last Fall, which include uncontrollable facial and body twitching.

They include 14 girls aged between 13 and 18 and this week the first adult victim, 36-year-old nurse practitioner Marge Fitzsimmons.

Among those who have taken an interest in the case is environmental campaigner Erin Brockovich.

She has suggested that a chemical spill from a train derailment in the 1970s near the site of the girls’ school may be the cause.

Researchers have also come up with a string of theories and believe teenagers may have been struck down by paediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome, or PANS, which is a kind of OCD linked to strep throat.

Other believe that Morgellons could be to blame, which is a disease that causes patients to sprout painful sores.

Some doctors have also suggested it could be a mass psychogenic illness which can be triggered by stress and is spread from unconscious mimicry of one another.

Dr. Laszlo Mechtler, chief of neurology at the Dent Neurologic Institute in Buffalo, said: ‘When one has a symptom, it can be reinforced and magnified with other individuals with similar symptoms.

‘That’s what’s going on with these girls. They are in a segregated small rural town in New York state. They are a cohesive group. And this wildfire of symptoms takes control.’

During an angry meeting on Saturday parents berated LeRoy schools officials and asked why the soil around natural gas well which had been dug on school ground had not been tested for contamination. Read more ›

February 6, 2012
Could Facebook be to blame for spread of mysterious Tourette’s-like illness?
FoxNews.com

Facebook and YouTube may have helped to spread the bizarre Tourette’s-like illness that has afflicted many young girls in upstate New York, the Daily Mail reported.

Doctors said that because victims in the town of LeRoy are uploading videos and pictures of themselves on social networking sites, the symptoms could be ‘reinforced and magnified.’

They think the people who watch the videos could be subconsciously copying and spreading what they see. Read more ›

One doctor has claims that a bunch of the girls are suffering from an infection that is causing Pediatric Acute Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS, formerly known as PANDAS) as a side effect. Here is a video story from a local newsroom:

February 6, 2012
Doctor Offers Second Opinion on LeRoy Case
By Sarah Hopkins, WGRZ 2

LEROY, NY – A doctor working to determine what is causing more than a dozen teenage girls to experience uncontrollable tics announced all the girls he has seen have tested positive for infections that could mean they are suffering from Pediatric Acute Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS, formerly known as PANDAS.)

Dr. Rosario Trifiletti made his announcement on the Dr. Drew Show on the cable network HLN.
“I can tell you that they are testing positive for, each one is testing positive either for streptococcas or mycoplasma, which are known triggers of the PANDAS/ PANSSyndrome,” said Trifiletti. Read more ›

Still one doctor is saying it is psychological…

February 6, 2012
Dr says LeRoy illness not environmental
Rachel Kingston, WIVB 4

LeROY, N.Y. (WIVB) – We’ve heard competing theories about what’s really causing those sudden spasms afflicting students from LeRoy. Another local neurologist is speaking out, saying what’s affecting the teens has far more to do with the mind than the environment.

What we are witnessing in LeRoy may be a medical phenomenon, known as a “mass psychogenic outbreak.” That’s the opinion of Dr. David Lichter, who has treated one of the teenaged girls suffering from seemingly unexplainable tics. Read more ›

But at least we all agree it’s not environmental… despite Erin Brockovich being called in (or maybe just showing up)… I’ll let you know if they ever get to the bottom of this.

Either way, as it stands now, if you put a photo up on Facebook, when you delete it – it’s not really gone. Just the extensions and links disappear – the URL is still alive. So word to the wise parents and cautious kids, make sure you are sure about that photo being online – because, as of now, Facebook will keep it around forever!

Just another great reason to use PC Pandora computer monitoring software – to know what your kids are posting on Facebook and what photos they are comitting to the world’s view.

February 6, 2012
Facebook still doesn’t delete your photos, three years later
By Zack Whittaker, ZDNet.com

I remember the good old days when ‘delete’ really meant delete.

Going on three years since it was discovered that Facebook does not actually delete images uploaded to the social network, but instead merely removes the links and the visible access to the content, the social network said that a fix is in sight.

According to Ars Technica, which covered this when the issue was first highlighted in 2009 by Cambridge University researchers, Facebook said in 2009 it was “working with our content delivery network partner to significantly reduce the amount of time that backup copies persist”. In 2010, Facebook then said that a fix for videos “is already in place”, and it hoped to “implement it for profile pictures and photos in the coming weeks.” Read more ›

While it’s great to give victims more of a legal leg to stand on in confronting their bullies, we need to focus on making sure our own kids are not the bully. The answer to this problem is not a legal or legislative one – it is a parenting one. PC Pandora will let you know if your child is part of the problem…

February 2, 2012
Cyberbullying bill introduced in N.Y. Assembly
By David L. Hudson Jr., First Amendment Scholar

A bill currently in the New York General Assembly would address the problem of cyberbullying, a phenomenon that has attracted national attention over the last several years. In January, New York Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin introduced A.8895, which defines cyberbullying as:

“engaging in a course of conduct or repeatedly committing acts of abusive behavior over a period of time by communicating or causing a communication to be sent by mechanical or electronic means, posting statements on the Internet or through a computer network.”

The measure further defines “abusive behavior” as:

“taunting; threatening; intimidating; insulting; tormenting; humiliating; disseminating embarrassing or sexually explicit photographs, either actual or modified, of a minor; disseminating the private, personal or sexual information, either factual or false, of a minor; or sending hate mail. Read more ›