Doctors in Canada have identified dozens of patients with similar, unexplained symptoms — a scientific puzzle that has now become a political maelstrom.

Investigation into Canada’s New Brunswick brain syndrome is being blocked by the province, whose claims that the syndrome is various existing diseases have been debunked by federal experts, who suggest that the provincial government controlled by its forestry industry is blocking the investigation to retain tourism and industry.

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
    45·
    3 months ago

    Over the course of several days, Beatty slipped further into unreality. He told his wife the year was 1992 and wondered aloud why his hair had turned white. Then he started having seizures. His arms began to move in uncontrollable jerks and twitches. By the end of May, he was dead.

    This is frightening.

    But these anxieties and sleep problems quickly gave way to more acute presentations: limb pain and trouble balancing, teeth chattering and shocklike muscle spasms so violent that some patients could no longer sleep in the same bed as their spouses. Many patients developed vision problems; some experienced terrifying hallucinations. (“Like daydreaming,” Marrero says, “but a nightmare.”) As the sickness continued to manifest, muscles wasted away and cognitive decline set in. Some patients died; others plateaued in various states of distress.

    And I made it about two more paragraphs after this before closing the window. This is just too much bad news first thing in the morning. Sigh.