(The Guardian) – Doctors in Canada are concerned they could be dealing with a previously unknown brain disease amid a string of cases involving memory loss, hallucinations and muscle atrophy.
Politicians in the province of New Brunswick have demanded answers, but with so few cases, experts say there are far more questions than answers and have urged the public not to panic.
For more than a year public health officials have been tracking a “cluster” of 43 cases of suspected neurological disease in the province with no known cause.
Residents first learned of the investigation last week after a leaked memo from the province’s public health agency asked physicians to be on the lookout for symptoms similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – a rare, fatal brain disease caused by misformed proteins known as prions.
“We are collaborating with different national groups and experts; however, no clear cause has been identified at this time,” said the memo. READ MORE
