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More than 40 people in Canada have reportedly contracted a mysterious brain disease – with symptoms resembling those of a rare and fatal disease, including memory loss, hallucinations and muscle atrophy.
Officials alerted doctors in the province of New Brunswick this month that they were monitoring a cluster of 43 cases of neurological disease of unknown cause, The Guardian reported.
The first identified case dates back to 2015, but in 2019 there were 11 cases and 24 in 2020. Researchers estimate that five people died from the disease, according to the outlet.
There have been six cases so far in 2021, according to CBC News.
Residents first learned of the existence of a probe last week after a memo from the local public health agency asked doctors to be on the lookout for symptoms similar to the disease of Creutzfeldt-Jakob, a fatal brain disease caused by malformed proteins called prions.
“We collaborate with different national groups and experts; however, no clear cause has yet been identified, ”the memo read, The Guardian reported.
Some of the symptoms – including memory loss, vision problems and abnormal movements – have triggered an alert with the Canadian CJD Surveillance Network.
But despite the initial similarities, the screening produced no confirmed cases of CJD, according to the outlet.
“We have no evidence to suggest that this is a prion disease,” said Dr. Alier Marrero, a neurologist leading the investigation in New Brunswick, adding that patients were initially complaining. pain, spasms and changes in behavior.
Their symptoms could also be diagnosed as anxiety or depression, he noted, but within 18 to 36 months, they began to develop cognitive decline, muscle wasting, drooling and chattering. .
A number of them also began to experience frightening hallucinations, including the sensation of insects crawling on their skin, according to the report.
In addition to CJD, symptoms are also similar to some of its variants, including mad cow disease or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the CBC reported.
To rule out other possible causes such as dementia, neurodegenerative diseases, autoimmune diseases and possible infections, Marrero’s team conducts an in-depth study of the patient’s history, as well as a battery of tests including brain scans, metabolic and toxicological tests and lumbar puncture.
“We haven’t seen a cluster of diagnostic resistant neurological diseases like this in the past 20 years,” Michael Coulthart, head of the Canadian CJD Surveillance Network, told The Guardian.
The majority of cases are linked to the Acadian Peninsula, a sparsely populated region in northeastern New Brunswick, which has fewer than 800,000 inhabitants.
Valerie Sim, a researcher at the University of Alberta, said the experts “don’t really know if we even have a definite syndrome.
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