Mysterious brain condition plaguing Canadian town has baffled scientists

Lawmakers are weeks away from issuing report on New Brunswick cluster

Officials in New Brunswick have identified 48 cases of the mysterious illness (Getty Images)

A mysterious neurological illness that has been widely reported in New Brunswick, Canada, has become a bigger threat to young people in the province, according to a whistleblower.

The disease, which officials say has infected 48 individuals between “early 2020 and the end of May 2021”, is thought to include symptoms such as insomnia, hallucinations and rapid weight loss.

As have issues with thinking and mobility been reported by sufferers of the unknown illness.

Now an employee with one of the province’s two health authorities, Vitalité Health Network, has said that as many as 150 people could actually have been infected – and that numbers appeared to be on the up.

“I’m truly concerned about these cases because they seem to evolve so fast,” said the employee in an interview with The Guardian on Sunday. “I’m worried for them and we owe them some kind of explanation.”

The Vitalité Health worker said they were speaking out because of concerns about the speed at which young people were deteriorating as a result of the illness, and frustration that officials in New Brunswick were failing to investigate the illness, or conducting testing.

Such disease are not common in young people.

In October, the province attempted to address concerns about the illness, and said that eight fatal cases were were the result of misdiagnosis. An epidemiological report also suggested there there was no significant evidence of any enivonrmental factor such as food or behaviour that could explain it.

Scientists were reported as disagreeing with that analysis, and believe that high concentrations of β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a toxin found in algae blooms locally, could be to blame.

“The fact that we have a younger spectrum of patients here argues very strongly against what appears to be the preferred position of the government of New Brunswick – that the cases in this cluster are being mistakenly lumped together,” said a scientist at Canada’s public health agency, who was also not authorised to speak to The Guardian.

Documents obtained by the newspaper through freedom of information requests also show that Canada’s public health agency considered BMAA as a possible cause, but required the province to order testing.

An oversight committee is due to release a report later this month that will likely determine if the 48 cases identified so far were from a neurological illness or the result of misdiagnosis.

New Brunswick’s health department toldThe Independent that the committee “is expected to conclude its clinical review of each case in the cluster over the next few weeks” and that “Its final report will be released to the public shortly after.”

“The [health] minister believes that any comments on this investigation before then, including responding to rumours by unnamed sources in the media, would be inappropriate.”

Vitalité Health Network’s said “it wouldn’t be appropriate” to comment on “rumors from unnamed sources.”

Dr Natalie Banville, vice-president of Medical Affairs, added in a statement: “Last October, an epidemiological review of the potential neurological syndrome of unknown cause was released by the New Brunswick Department of Health. 

“The second half of the investigation is an independent clinical review of each case in the identified cluster which is conducted by an oversight committee comprised of six neurologists. The final report will be released by the province early this year and we look forward to getting this review to further our understanding of this potential neurological syndrome. ”