1958 Athens outbreak

1958 Athens outbreak: In June 1958 an unusual neurological disease spread through the Queen Frederica School for Midwives, which is attached to the Alexandra Maternity Hospital, Athens, Greece. All twenty-seven cases reported occurred in females. Twenty-five were graduates or student midwives of the school, one was a female servant of the outpatient medical clinic, and one was a nurse of a neighboring hospital who visited the hospital laboratory every day she was on duty. No doctors or patients exposed to the nurses prior to the manifestation of the illness became ill. The outbreak was viewed as an episode of benign myalgic encephalomyelitis.

The cerebrospinal fluid examined by lumbar puncture was normal in 3 out of the 4 patients tested.