Small community demands answers as mysterious brain disease leaves residents paralyzed

A mysterious brain disease has caused 40 deaths and ravaged hundreds of people in a small community for more than a decade.

The new leader of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, Prime Minister Susan Holt, has reopened an investigation into the disease that causes dementia-like symptoms and partial paralysis.

Since DailyMail.com last reported on the cases, there have been more than a dozen more cases affecting an estimated 450 people in the area, and mostly people on the Acadian Peninsula.

Local authorities had previously estimated the total number of cases at just 48 people.

According to the Prime Minister, 40 people have died.

The Public Health Agency of Canada, a national organization led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had previously offered $5 million in funding to the province to investigate the cases.

The New Brunswick Department of Public Health conducted its own study without using the funds and concluded there was no cluster of brain diseases in the area. Rather, the department said the patients were misdiagnosed and actually had dementia and cancer.

Officials stopped the investigation.

The number of cases of the condition is disputed. A Canadian doctor said he has seen about 450 patients who fall within guidelines for the disease. In 2022, a government investigation concluded that there was no link between the 48 cases they included in their investigation

Now Prime Minister Holt has announced that she plans to restart an investigation, using the $5 million initially offered by federal authorities.

She said, “I think we should do everything we can to shed some light on this and find a way to stop what is making people sick.”

This gives fuel to a vocal minority of health officials in the area, led by New Brunswick neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero, who has publicly insisted that something sinister is happening in the area.

Prime Minister Holt said: ‘Its inexplicability is agony. Not knowing what the cause is, what will happen, what the treatment process is.

‘But knowing that it doesn’t seem treatable and that people around you have died from it is terrifying. So I think we should do everything we can to shed some light on this and find a way to put an end to what is making people sick.”

The unknown neurological disease, which was deemed New Brunswick neurological syndrome of unknown etiology, causes people to have problems with walking, balance, coordination, hallucinations, sleep, focus, memory and brain fog.

The government was first alerted to the cluster of diseases in late 2020 by Dr. Dr.’s Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS). Coulthart when 40 residents suffered from mysterious neurological symptoms similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

CJD is a rare, fatal condition similar to mad cow disease that leads to rapid brain deterioration and muscle problems.

However, an independent monitoring committee concluded a year later that the patients had actually known illnesses.

But emails were leaked two years after the conclusion of the investigation came to light Dr. Michael Coulthart, head of a surveillance system, said: ‘My scientific opinion is that there is something real going on in NB (New Brunswick) that absolutely cannot be explained by the bias or agenda of an individual neurologist.

‘A few cases may be best explained by the latter, but there are simply too many (now more than 200).’

A year later, 48 patients had been identified as part of the cluster. Most cases are clustered around Moncton, New Brunswick, a city of 85,802 people.

Many of the patients were referred to Moncton Interdisciplinary Neurodegenerative Diseases (MIND), where they were treated. MIND, formerly associated with Dr. Marrero, estimated the number of patients based on symptoms at almost 450.

Among them were Luc LeBlanc and Cody Gallant, some of the youngest residents to suffer from the debilitating disease.

LeBlanc, 39, was previously healthy, but doctors have now told him his brain is “like that of an 80-year-old.” CBC reports this.

He was one of 48 patients the government included in the cluster and has now had to stop working due to muscle cramps and brain fog.

Luc LeBlanc, who has mobility problems and can no longer walk, was included in the government cluster. Cody Gallant was also treated at the MIND clinic. However, public health officials do not recognize him as part of the cluster. He cannot sleep, has muscle spasms and hallucinations

Gallant, 21, was a former high school football player, but he now has trouble sleeping, severe headaches, hallucinations and coordination problems.

He was not one of the 48 patients the government included in the cluster, but the MIND clinic says he has the condition.

Prior to Premier Holt’s statement, the New Brunswick government’s official position was that the cases were unrelated or linked to a single cause.

Dr. Marrero is one of the few doctors who has publicly opposed this position.

He even went so far as to perform his own blood tests on some New Brunswick patients, discovering that pesticides found in each of their blood could be the cause of their illness.

Dr. Marrero told The New York Times Magazine, “I don’t conclude that this is the cause of what’s happening.”

But he added: “It’s something that tells me there’s something wrong with the environment they’re living in.”

In December 2022, he found that 90 percent of patients he tested had elevated levels of an agricultural chemical called glyphosate in their blood.

He warned that this may be common in the area, and that it is not possible to conclude anything from these blood tests alone.

In this area of ​​New Brunswick, a number of chemicals, including glyphosate, are used to keep local forests healthy.

Glyphosate, an herbicide and the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, has been under public scrutiny for decades.

Terriline Porelle was at work in the summer of 2020 when she experienced a sharp pain in her leg. Today, she has difficulty walking and performing daily tasks without the help of her partner. She said she hopes Prime Minister Holt’s investigation will provide answers

Some studies link it to non-Hodgkin lymphoma and others link it to an increased risk of developing Parkinson’s.

It is banned or restricted in parts of Canada. In Quebec, the herbicide is banned in forest management. In Vancouver, there is a ban on the use of the products in public parks and outdoor gardens.

But not all health organizations agree that the product is toxic.

The US EPA has repeatedly reaffirmed its approval of glyphosate. The most recent review of the product from 2020 stated: ‘There are no risks endangering human health if glyphosate is used in accordance with the current label.’

It is still used in North America. In New Brunswick it is used to maintain forests.

Aside from pesticides, some have suggested that the unknown disease could be related to the local seafood supply.

Many coastal New Brunswick residents reportedly eat fish caught in the area, and the economy is partially dependent on aquatic tourism.

Toxic algae blooms, caused by pollution, sometimes crop up in the area, and the fish that feed in these ecosystems can sometimes be full of neurotoxic chemicals, which in other parts of the world have been linked to Parkinson’s-like diseases.

The lack of an explanation was frustrating for patients in the cluster like Terriline Porelle. Porelle, who used to be an active person, told The Guardian she now has difficulty controlling her hands, problems with memory and walking.

She only eats frozen meals because she can no longer cook for herself and has problems completing tasks.

She said Premier Holt’s investigation is a welcome change and hopes it will find something that explains her symptoms.

Porelle said, “I am hopeful that Premier Holt will do the right thing for us, patients and the people of New Brunswick.”