I have enough trouble deciding whether my kids are really sick or if they just want a day off school....
Sounds like Saddam's way of removing an undesirable population has spread east & north.
"...out of all the sick children, there is only one boy. The girls are between 12 and 15 years old -- more susceptible to pressure."
Seeing that the sufferers are nearly all girls, and look at that age range, it makes me think it is more likely mass hysteria. I don't see how any wide spread environmental agent, whether terrorism or not, could affect only such a small subset of people. Girls in this age range have a unique ability to whip themselves into frenzy. So, hopefully they are not poisoned.
this is what happens when terrorists store their nerve agents in the schools and mosques.