A mysterious brain disease has gripped Canada. It involves the brain and symptoms are similar to the rare degenerative fatal disease of the brain called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. But the tests return negative for Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Then what is this new disease?
The new brain disease in Canada
A rare but increasing new brain disease is gripping Canadians residing in and around the New Brunswick's bucolic Acadian peninsula. There are seuzures, delusions, hallucinations, weight loss, aggression, repetitive speech. The son of one of the patient narrated:
"At one point he couldn't even walk. So in the span of three months we were being brought to a hospital to tell us they believed he was dying - but no one knew why."
The symptoms start with behavioural changes like anxiety, depression and irritability, and there is unexplained pain, muscle aches and spasms. There is no premorbid conditions. Difficulties in sleeping - severe insomnia or hypersomnia - and memory problems emerge. Communication and language problems come up and word repetition and stuttering are observed. The patients lose weight and their muscles undergo atrophy.
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| New disease in Canada (Source: Healthsite) |
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Coordination gets impaired and visual disturbances are seen. Muscle twitching and spasms start and many of them require assisted walking devices such as walkers and wheelchairs. Capgras delusion in some is frustrating. In it, the person does not recognize his or her partner and believes strongly that the current partner is an impostor.
Doctors initially thought it was Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease [CJD]. It is a human prion degenerative disease which is rare but fatal. Patients have symptoms of a failing memory, behavioural changes and difficulties with co-ordination. It is listed in the category of other brain disorders such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and ALS in which nervous tissue protein aggregates and misfolds. There is a variant CJD that comes on after consumption of contaminated meat infected with mad cow disease.
More about this rare unknown brain condition
But in this new disease, tests for CJD are negative. Other tests to find out the root cause of the disease come out negative. A cluster of patients in the province have been found to suffer from this novel disorder. A public health memo has bern sent to all the practising doctors in the area to make them aware of this new condition. Radio Canada broadcast on it to the masses.
Dr Alier Marrero, neurologist with Moncton's Dr Georges-L-Dumont University Hospital Centre revealed that the first case they saw was in the year 2015. But gradually, the numbers went up to 48 and doctors have bee unable to understand the real cause behind them. Investigations are ongoing. Some toxin is suspected either from eating something or from environment but it has not being pinpointed. The patients are as young as 18 y old and as old as 85 y. It is baffling and most are from the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton areas of New Brunswick. The doctor said:
"Our first common idea is that there's a toxic element acquired in the environment of this patient that triggers the degenerative changes,"
An "excitotoxin" like domoic acid was linked to the 1987 food poisoning incident from mussels contaminated with the toxin from the nearby province of Prince Edward Island. The toxin beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) can also cause it. Both are being studied in all these patients along with a host of other tests that include spinal fluid taps and special brain scans.
Unfortunately, there is no cure for this downhill ailment. But patients expect transparency from the local authorities if a cause is found especially if it is man-made. The relatives of patients are putting the information online to make people aware of it. University of British Columbia neurologist Dr Neil Cashman states:
"We have to go back to first principles, go back to square one. At this point basically nothing can be excluded."
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