Hallucinations, rapid cognitive decline, insomnia, difficulty thinking, limited mobility, insomnia and rapid wasting... In New Brunswick, Canada, a mysterious progressive neurological disorder has brought down more and more healthy young people.
According to foreign media reports on January 2, in the past nearly a year, this mysterious disease known as "New Brunswick Syndrome" has frequently made headlines in Canada. In fact, the disease has been plaguing experts and locals for at least two years. However, it wasn't until the spring of 2021, after a memo from the New Brunswick public health agency was leaked to the media, that the provincial government made public and acknowledged the existence of the mysterious disease for the first time.
Young people experience disturbing symptoms, including rapid weight loss, insomnia, hallucinations, and limited activity. Infographic according to the network
Since then, the number of officially recorded cases has remained at 48 without any change. But multiple sources recently revealed that as many as 150 people may have been infected with this fast-spreading mysterious disease so far. In addition, there are a large number of suspected cases involving young people that still require further evaluation, of which at least 9 people have died. What is even more confusing is that after more than half a year of investigation, this mysterious disease has sparked a "cloud of doubt" controversy in Canada.
Never seen before
A neurological disorder may present with human-to-human transmission
An anonymous employee of the Vitalité Health Network (one of the health departments of New Brunswick) recently revealed that the number of suspected cases has been increasing, and young people who previously had no health triggers are experiencing a series of symptoms. The source said: "These cases seem to be developing too fast and I am really worried. ”
According to Dr. Alier Marrer, a neuroscientist who pioneered the New Brunswick Syndrome study, patients initially have unexplained pain, cramps, and behavioral changes that can easily be diagnosed with anxiety or depression. But 18 to 36 months after the condition, they began to experience cognitive decline, muscle atrophy, drooling and teeth chattering, and some patients even began to have terrible hallucinations, including "feeling insects crawling on their skin."
Mareiro insisted on his theory that there was a group of patients suffering from atypical neurological disorders
After ruling out other possible diseases such as dementia, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases and possible infections through a series of tests such as brain imaging, metabolic and toxicological tests, spinal cord blood draw, etc., they found that this mysterious disease first appeared in 2015, but there was only 1 suspected case, 11 cases in 2019 and 24 cases in 2020. As of June 2021, a total of 48 cases have been confirmed, mostly in Moncton, and some on the Acadia Peninsula and on the north shore near the Quebec border.
Michael Kurhart, head of the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease surveillance network in Canada, said: "In the past 20 years, I have not experienced a neurological disease like this. ”
One of the most disturbing factors is the fact that experts and researchers know very little about the spread of the disease. "We are working with different national groups and experts. However, there is no clear reason at this time. The previously leaked memo reads.
To date, in at least 9 recorded cases, people who are in close contact with the patient have developed symptoms similar to those of the patient, suggesting that the disease is not only susceptible to transmission between unrelated people, but may also be related to environmental factors.
One suspected case involved a man with symptoms of dementia, ataxia, whose wife, after caring for him for a period of time, suddenly began to suffer from insomnia, muscle wasting, dementia, and hallucinations. Now, the wife's situation is worse than his. Another woman in her 30s, who "can't speak, eats with a tube, and drools all the time," and whose caregiver is a nursing student in her 20s, has also recently developed symptoms of neurological decline. In another case, a young mother quickly lost nearly 60 pounds (about 27.2 kilograms) and later suffered from insomnia and began hallucinating. Brain imaging shows advanced signs of brain atrophy.
Some experts say it seems to stem from the same unknown brain injury disease, but the exact cause has not been found. In a memorandum from the New Brunswick Public Health Agency, it is compared to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (commonly known as "mad cow disease"), a fatal brain disease caused by prions, but the patients tested negative for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
Doubts abound
The government called it a "misdiagnosis"
Scientists have been clamoring over their existence
"The number of cases has increased every year since 2018. We don't know why, we don't know what the reason is. We know this is happening, and it may be spreading. Mareiro warned, "We may be experiencing something we have never been exposed to before." ”
However, new Brunswick had to make the news public after being exposed by the media, but the local government still insisted that the series of cases was only "a misdiagnosis result of classifying unrelated diseases together.".
In October 2021, New Brunswick officials said the nine deaths were caused by "known and unrelated pathologies" rather than common, unknown neurological disorders. An epidemiological report from the province indicates that there is no clear evidence that any known food, behavioural or environmental exposures can explain the disease.
New Brunswick Health Minister Shepard said at the time, "Reports of a mysterious brain disease have alarmed local residents and plagued the province's medical community, but whether it is really a serious question." The province's ministry of health said the next phase of the report will be released in early 2022.
New Brunswick Health Minister Shea Bod questioned whether the mysterious disease was real
Meanwhile, Canadian neurologists are uproaring over the existence of this mysterious disease. Some neuroscientists still question the veracity of the mysterious disease, arguing that a detailed review of cases of those diagnosed with an unknown neurological disorder is crucial.
Valerie Sim, a professor of neurology at the University of Alberta's Center for Prion and Protein Folding Diseases, said: "The purpose of my questioning is only to balance the discussion, and we must keep an open mind about the possibility of not having this syndrome. She noted that patients diagnosed with mysterious diseases have a wide age span and their symptoms are so broad that it is impossible to draw any conclusions.
"Assuming they can all fit in the same pocket, is that a favor?" Or do they actually have different diseases that may require different investigations and different treatments? She said.
However, the investigative report released in October did not convince everyone. Experts familiar with the cases have worriedly pointed out that the age of the affected population is the key puzzle of this mysterious disease, because neurological diseases are rare among young people. Anonymous employees of vitalité health networks also said that people are beginning to worry more about the speed of the young people's deterioration.
A public health scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted what he thought the government was hiding, "The fact that we have a series of young patients here strongly contradicts the New Brunswick government's view that this group of cases is incorrectly grouped together." ”
Dr. Alier Marrer said that although his judgment may be wrong, he still insists that this mysterious disease exists, and the autopsy results should not rule out this possibility.
According to foreign media reports, publicly available document information shows that scientists at the Canadian Public Health Agency believe that the neurotoxin BMAA is one of the possible causes. A previous scientific study found that lobsters abundant in the region contain high concentrations of BMAAs.
Tim Beatty's father, Laurie, died in 2019 after developing similar symptoms, but was "diagnosed" with Alzheimer's (Alzheimer's) after his death. But now, the Beatty family has been told that their father may have been one of the patients who died of the mysterious disease. He said the family was applying for a BMAA test on his father's body. However, the government's refusal to detect suspicious environmental factors has sparked speculation than mentioning other families who have lost loved ones to the mysterious disease. "I don't know why there was no scientific investigation, they had my father's body. We have fully allowed them to do toxicological studies and do what needs to be done. However, there is currently no study. Beatty said.
Source: Red Star News reporter Xu Huan