‘Salomé'
Play by Oscar Wilde, performed by the National Dance Company and the National Theater, Wednesday through Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday, 5 p.m., National Theater. March 13-May 3, Teatro La Aduana, Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 5 p.m. Info: 2221-5341. www.teatronacional.go.cr.

Open mic night
Singer songwriters welcome, 8 p.m., Rayuela, opposite Plaza de la Democracia.

Anagramas Trio in concert
Jazz fusion, 10 p.m., Jazz Café, San Pedro, 2253-8933, www.jazzcafecostarica.com.

A team of traditional indigenous healers and regional health authorities from the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) trekked out to visit three rural Miskito communities along the Río Coco on Tuesday to investigate reports of an outbreak of a mysterious collective hysteria, known as “grisi siknis,” or “crazy sickness.”

Centuriano Knight, the regional health coordinator for the RAAN, told The Nica Tim es yesterday in a phone interview that 34 people have reportedly fallen ill with grisi siknis in the river community of Santa Fe, seven people in the nearby community of Esperanza and two in the neighboring community of San Carlos. The outbreak of grisi siknis, which has no scientific explanation, is the largest case of collective hysteria since a massive outbreak in the RAAN community of Raití in 2003.

Though doctors, anthropologists and sociologists have all studied previous cases, no one has been able to explain the phenomena, Knight said. Traditional healers and witches have explained the mysterious illness with different theories ranging from a curse to incomplete witchcraft.

The strange illness apparently affects young people more than old, putting people in a strange trance and apparently giving them super-human strength, according to Knight and other witnesses.

“A 15-year-old girl with siknis can overpower six or seven men,” Knight said. “The men can't detain her, and have to tie her up in bed sheets.”

Knight said the illness doesn't necessarily make people violent, but it does make them hysterical. Many of the affected will take off running madly, and other villagers can't stop them, he said.

Sometimes, however, grisi siknis can turn violent. In the case of Raití in 2003, some of the affected people ran around town with machetes trying to cut others.

Knight said the mysterious illness has existed in the indigenous communities since the 1960s, but had disappeared for years until the 2003 outbreak. The illness apparently only affects indigenous Miskito and Mayagna populations.

In 2004, the illness was cured by a local healer who treated it with herbs and other natural medicines. The three local healers sent to the communities Tuesday will employ the same techniques, Knight said.

Prices of basic goods and services during January and February combined rose by 0.82 percent, slowing by 1.85 percent from the same period last year, according to the National Statistics and Census Institute (INEC).

Inflation in February alone was 0.44 percent, below the 1.11 percent registered the same month in 2008, the institute said in its latest Consumer Price Index (IPC). The index details price changes in different areas from services to products to entertainment.

Last month, the groups that increased the most included food and beverages consumed outside the home (0.76 percent), clothing and footwear (0.75 percent) and house rental fees and services (4.68 percent).

The IPC tracks the basic consumer basket, which includes more than 292 essential or commonly used products and services.

From that basket, 65 percent registered a hike in their prices when compared to January's prices, while only 28 percent showed a decrease. The remaining 7 percent of products and services showed no variation.

In a statement released on Tuesday regarding the INEC monthly report, the consulting firm Aldesa said the moderation of economic activity worldwide along with the drop of prices of commodities and the increase of interest rates on a local level would continue to temper inflation.

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador – The left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is still leading the incumbent right-wing ARENA party in polls before the March 15 presidential election, though the lead is diminishing, according to two polls released last week.

Mauricio Funes, the FMLN presidential candidate leads his ARENA opponent Rodrigo Avila by less than three percentage points – 30.9 percent to 28 percent – resulting in a technical tie between the two, according to a poll by La Prensa Gráfica. A second poll shows that the FMLN candidate is ahead by only one point. At one point, Funes had been leading by almost 10 points.