Speaker 1: A quick note before this week's episode, just to let
Speaker 1: you know that Unexplained will break for two weeks for
Speaker 1: the upcoming holiday season and be back in the new
Speaker 1: year with the new episode on Friday, January seventh. Welcome
Speaker 1: to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McLane Smith, where for
Speaker 1: the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories and
Speaker 1: ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it
Speaker 1: into the previous show. In our last episode, Under the
Speaker 1: Rocks and Stones, we took a trip to the island
Speaker 1: of Guernsey, which was seemingly beset by a series of
Speaker 1: strange events in the early twentieth century. The spate of
Speaker 1: violent attacks, which peaked with the brutal and unexplained murder
Speaker 1: of one local resident, was thought by some to be
Speaker 1: linked to the excavation of a prehistoric grave site located
Speaker 1: in the north the island, though we can never know
Speaker 1: for sure if vengeful spirits, or even just the thought
Speaker 1: of such a thing, were truly to blame for some
Speaker 1: of the peculiar events. The confutation of causation an action
Speaker 1: that directly causes a subsequent outcome, and correlation when two
Speaker 1: events or actions are related but not dependent, on one
Speaker 1: another has long been a bugbear for those in the
Speaker 1: scientific community. Never as this more pronounced than during times
Speaker 1: of a potential public health crisis of unknown origin. It
Speaker 1: is often said by medical professionals that medicine is not
Speaker 1: an exact science, despite the incredible wealth of knowledge we have,
Speaker 1: as many of us perhaps know better than ever before
Speaker 1: thanks to the current COVID nineteen pandemic, trying to identify
Speaker 1: what may or may not be a symptom of a
Speaker 1: specific illness is never a simple task, and sometimes, despite
Speaker 1: our best efforts, we might never reach a satisfying answer.
Speaker 1: For sixty five year old Roger Ellis of Bathurst in
Speaker 1: New Brunswick, Canada, it began in twenty nineteen with a
Speaker 1: funny turn. Fearing that he was having a heart attack,
Speaker 1: Roger's family rushed him to hospital, where doctors struggled to
Speaker 1: determine the cause of his malaise. A few days later,
Speaker 1: he suffered a seizure. Over the next three months, Ellis's
Speaker 1: condition deteriorated rapidly. He became unsteady on his feet and
Speaker 1: easily disorientated. Soon his mental faculties began to diminish, and
Speaker 1: he developed repetitive speech, He lost sixty pounds, became dependent
Speaker 1: on a wheelchair, and was forced to take food through
Speaker 1: a tube. Naturally terrified at what Roger was going through,
Speaker 1: his family could only stand by and watch as his
Speaker 1: condition worsened and doctors steadily exhausted all possibilities of what
Speaker 1: it might be. At one point, the neurodegenerative disorder kreutz
Speaker 1: Felt Jakob disease or c j D seemed a distinct
Speaker 1: possibility until that was ruled out. A diagnosis of autoimmune
Speaker 1: and cephalitis was also later dismissed. Doctors finally settled on
Speaker 1: progressive supernuclear palsy, another neurodegenerative disease that was until Roger
Speaker 1: stabilized for a short period in twenty twenty, something that
Speaker 1: isn't thought possible under that particular condition. For Roger and
Speaker 1: his family, the nightmare of not knowing what was happening
Speaker 1: and what, if anything, could be done about it seemed
Speaker 1: likely to have no end until whatever it was claimed
Speaker 1: Roger's life. Then, one morning in March twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: Roger's son Steve, came across an interesting article regarding Elite
Speaker 1: memo that had been sent from New Brunswick's Deputy Chief
Speaker 1: Medical Officer, doctor Kristin Muki. The memo had been sent
Speaker 1: on March fifth to most of the provinces doctors, nurses
Speaker 1: and pharmacists, alerting them to an as yet unidentified neurological
Speaker 1: syndrome that appeared to be flourishing in the province. As
Speaker 1: the troubling Memo went on to detail, the first case
Speaker 1: of the apparent syndrome was identified in twenty fifteen. Eleven
Speaker 1: cases were found in twenty nineteen, with a further fourteen
Speaker 1: the following year and another four more in twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: By March of that year, there were said to be
Speaker 1: forty three cases in total, and five patients had already
Speaker 1: died from the supposed disease. The cases seemed to cluster
Speaker 1: around the town of Moncton in southeast New Brunswick and
Speaker 1: the Acadienne Peninsula in the northeast of the province, and
Speaker 1: although the median age of those affected was fifty nine
Speaker 1: years old, the age of those seemingly suffering from it
Speaker 1: ranged widely from eighteen to eighty six. In a subsequent
Speaker 1: press conference, New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell,
Speaker 1: identified the symptoms as rapidly progressing dementia, unexplained significant weight loss,
Speaker 1: a tightening of the muscles, sudden attacks of uncoordination, and
Speaker 1: muscle atrophy, almost exactly what Roger Ellis had been suffering.
Speaker 1: Like Roger's son, Steve, the people of New Brunswick, already
Speaker 1: in the midst of the word global pandemic and living memory,
Speaker 1: were stunned by the news and not unreasonably a little
Speaker 1: scared about what exactly was going on. As the public
Speaker 1: and politicians demanded answers, a medical task force was quickly
Speaker 1: assembled to investigate, led by a neurologist, doctor Allier Morrero,
Speaker 1: of the Dumont University Hospital Center in Moncton, who'd first
Speaker 1: raised the alarm about the issue back in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 1: Marrero was visited by a patient who was suffering a
Speaker 1: strange series of symptoms from anxiety, muscle aches, and terrifying
Speaker 1: hallucinations to what appeared to be the rapid onset of dementia.
Speaker 1: Over the next few years, more and more patients presented
Speaker 1: to him with the same strange mix of symptoms, each
Speaker 1: potentially understandable in their own right, but unusual collectively. After
Speaker 1: ordering blood tests, spinal taps, MRI scans, and electro and cephalograms.
Speaker 1: Doctor Marrero identified that all was suffering genuine neurological dysfunction,
Speaker 1: as well as a degree of brain atrophy, but there
Speaker 1: was nothing obvious to suggest a specific disease. Kreus felt
Speaker 1: Jakob disease appeared to be the most likely cause, but
Speaker 1: all tests for that came back negative. After consulting colleagues
Speaker 1: and all the medical texts he could find, Marrero was
Speaker 1: completely stumped. The only logical conclusion, he reasoned, was that
Speaker 1: he was dealing with something completely new without knowing more.
Speaker 1: He gave it the suitably vague name of neurological syndrome
Speaker 1: of unknown Etiology in New Brunswick and swiftly got to
Speaker 1: work on trying to decipher it. With the cases appearing
Speaker 1: to cluster around two specific locations, doctor Marrero began to
Speaker 1: wander if the illness was environmental, with the terrifying implication
Speaker 1: that something in the food, air, or water being breathed
Speaker 1: or ingested by the people of New Brunswick was the cause.
Speaker 1: Marrero and his team consulted all manner of experts, from
Speaker 1: neurologists and environmental health specialists, to epidemiologists and experts in toxicology,
Speaker 1: but no one had an answer. Others, however, were skeptical
Speaker 1: that there was a new disease at all. A key problem,
Speaker 1: as remarked on at the time by Valerie sim a
Speaker 1: researcher of neurodegenerative disease at the University of Alberta, was
Speaker 1: just how little we know about neurodegenerative disease in general
Speaker 1: and indeed the brain. As Sim noted, many of the
Speaker 1: symptoms described by doctor Marrero could be applicable to sufferers
Speaker 1: of brain thumors or dementia, for example, but there was
Speaker 1: simply not enough evidence to draw any definitive conclusions. In reality,
Speaker 1: when it comes to diagnosing and neurodegenerative disease, it is
Speaker 1: rarely a cut and dry case. Often it is only
Speaker 1: after a patient has been observed for a significant period
Speaker 1: of time that symptoms can be seen to coalesce into
Speaker 1: something that might point to a specific diagnosis. As Sim
Speaker 1: also said, we see odd neurological syndromes from time to time.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we figure them out, sometimes we don't. By the
Speaker 1: end of April, however, another four cases of the mysterious
Speaker 1: illness had apparently been identified, taking the grand total to
Speaker 1: forty seven, and with more cases being identified, the list
Speaker 1: of apparent symptoms also grew Intriguingly, Some who claimed to
Speaker 1: be suffering from physical muscle aches appeared to be feeling
Speaker 1: the pain not directly from the limb, but only in
Speaker 1: the mind. Many patients also reported severe insomnia, sometimes being
Speaker 1: unable to sleep for days, while others would sleep so
Speaker 1: deeply it was almost impossible to wake them. Some began
Speaker 1: to hear phantom noises and voices, while others reported the
Speaker 1: sensation of insects crawling under their skin or seeing terrifying
Speaker 1: visions of the dead. Some also reported prolonged periods of
Speaker 1: a kinetic mutism, leaving them unable to speak. Though some
Speaker 1: bought at the idea that the illness could be environmental,
Speaker 1: there was certainly some precedent for the possibility. Back in
Speaker 1: the nineteen forties in Guam in the Western Pacific, Islanders
Speaker 1: began presenting themselves to US military doctors who were stationed
Speaker 1: there during the Second World War, with symptoms eerily similar
Speaker 1: to those being seen in New Brunswick. Doctors then believed
Speaker 1: the patients, whose symptoms ranged from muscle wasting and shaking
Speaker 1: to memory loss were suffering from something similar to Parkinson's
Speaker 1: or Alzheimer's. It was later suggested that the illness could
Speaker 1: be linked to a toxin called beta methyl amino l
Speaker 1: alanine that can be found in ciano bacteria or blue
Speaker 1: green algae, which was being consumed by many of the
Speaker 1: islands tomorrow people having somehow got into their regular diet. Additionally,
Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty seven, over a hundred people in
Speaker 1: Canada were struck down by a sudden and inexplicable illness
Speaker 1: which claimed the lives of three people. The problem was
Speaker 1: eventually found to be caused by demoic acid, a toxin
Speaker 1: dangerous to humans as well as sea lions, otters, and
Speaker 1: cetaceans that is also found in algae. A harvest of
Speaker 1: muscles from Prince Edward Island that had fed on the
Speaker 1: algae were later identified as the carriers of the toxin
Speaker 1: that can cause everything from nausea to seizures and ultimately
Speaker 1: death if not treated quickly enough. This previously unidentified illness
Speaker 1: was given the name amnesic shellfish poisoning. Doctor Alier Morrero
Speaker 1: and its team looked into both possibilities, but neither appeared
Speaker 1: to quite fit. As the expert struggled to identify the
Speaker 1: halls of the mystery illness. Conspiracy theories predictably blossomed in
Speaker 1: the absence of concrete answers, with cell phone towers and
Speaker 1: the COVID nineteen vaccine among the most prominent theories. As
Speaker 1: yet another case was identified in June twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: the public became increasingly impatient over what they perceived to
Speaker 1: be a lack of transparency from New Brunswick's public health
Speaker 1: team on what exactly was being done to tackle the problem.
Speaker 1: By the end of the summer of twenty twenty one, however,
Speaker 1: something had shifted in the government's response. Doctor Marrero and
Speaker 1: his team were slowly sidelined from the investigation. A separate
Speaker 1: team were then brought in to take a closer look
Speaker 1: at the patients who Marrero had previously identified as suffering
Speaker 1: from the so called neurological syndrome of unknown etiology in
Speaker 1: New Brunswick. Then in October they announced their findings in
Speaker 1: a report released by Public Health New Brunswick, presented by
Speaker 1: Health Minister Dorothy Shepherd. It was claimed that what was
Speaker 1: by then the eight deaths which had previously been blamed
Speaker 1: on the mysterious illness, had in fact been the result
Speaker 1: of known and unrelated pathologies. It was also said that
Speaker 1: there was no evidence to suggest the apparent illness was
Speaker 1: the effect of exposure to any particular food or environment.
Speaker 1: The announcement seemed to suggest that the government of New
Speaker 1: Brunswick were trying to distance themselves from the idea that
Speaker 1: there was a specific mystery illness at all. Three months later, however,
Speaker 1: in January twenty twenty two, an employee of the Vitality
Speaker 1: Health Network, one of only two health authorities operating in
Speaker 1: New Brunswick, came forward to warn the public that the
Speaker 1: illness was very real and that worryingly, it was affecting
Speaker 1: a growing number of young adults. The anonymous whistleblower claimed
Speaker 1: that a number of young adults with no prior health
Speaker 1: issues were being suddenly struck down with the loss of mobility, insomnia,
Speaker 1: and hallucinations, amongst other ailments, all of which seemed to
Speaker 1: suggest that environmental factors were a likely cause. Since it's
Speaker 1: uncommon for the young to be affected by neurological diseases.
Speaker 1: The claims led some to believe that some kind of
Speaker 1: cover up was underway, since one recent study had revealed
Speaker 1: high concentrations of the toxin beta methylamino l alanine in
Speaker 1: New Brunswick lobster, a produce that has considered vital to
Speaker 1: the local economy. In February twenty twenty two, it was
Speaker 1: announced by New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell,
Speaker 1: that the new oversight committee, installed in addition to doctor
Speaker 1: Marrero's team, after reviewing the records of forty eight patients,
Speaker 1: had unanimously agreed that those forty eight people, forty six
Speaker 1: of which had been identified by doctor Morrero as suffering
Speaker 1: from the apparently mysterious disease, should never have been identified
Speaker 1: as having a neurological syndrome of unknown cause, and that,
Speaker 1: based on the evidence reviewed, no such syndrome existed. Potential
Speaker 1: alternative diagnosis, they said, had been found for at least
Speaker 1: forty one of the forty eight patients, including cancer, Alzheimer's,
Speaker 1: post concussion syndrome, and Louis body dementia. Doctor Russell acknowledged
Speaker 1: short cummings in the way the government had handled the situation,
Speaker 1: stating that doctor Marrero's initial theories about the situation should
Speaker 1: have been assessed by a second specialist before any serious
Speaker 1: concerns were raised. In future, any similar claims would be
Speaker 1: reviewed in such a way, and if the two specialists
Speaker 1: disagreed in their assessment, the case would then be reviewed
Speaker 1: by a board of professionals before any public announcement would
Speaker 1: be made. Many patients included in the apparent cluster and
Speaker 1: their families still a way to clear diagnosis of their condition. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: doctor Allier Morrero continues to stand by his theory. If
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Speaker 1: covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide.
Speaker 1: You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones,
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Speaker 1: are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and
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Speaker 1: free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas
Speaker 1: regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you
Speaker 1: have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.
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