WEBVTT - Season 06 Episode 26 Extra: The Invisible Fog 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.880 A quick note before this week's episode, just to let 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.600 you know that Unexplained will break for two weeks for 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:08.400 the upcoming holiday season and be back in the new 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:23.160 year with the new episode on Friday, January seventh. Welcome 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:27.600 to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McLane Smith, where for 0:00:27.680 --> 0:00:30.080 the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories and 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:32.960 ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make it 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:37.080 into the previous show. In our last episode, Under the 0:00:37.159 --> 0:00:39.920 Rocks and Stones, we took a trip to the island 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:43.440 of Guernsey, which was seemingly beset by a series of 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:47.720 strange events in the early twentieth century. The spate of 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:51.720 violent attacks, which peaked with the brutal and unexplained murder 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:55.040 of one local resident, was thought by some to be 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:59.280 linked to the excavation of a prehistoric grave site located 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:02.560 in the north the island, though we can never know 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:06.200 for sure if vengeful spirits, or even just the thought 0:01:06.240 --> 0:01:08.880 of such a thing, were truly to blame for some 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:13.720 of the peculiar events. The confutation of causation an action 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:18.920 that directly causes a subsequent outcome, and correlation when two 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:22.720 events or actions are related but not dependent, on one 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:25.800 another has long been a bugbear for those in the 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.880 scientific community. Never as this more pronounced than during times 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:35.520 of a potential public health crisis of unknown origin. It 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:39.280 is often said by medical professionals that medicine is not 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:43.520 an exact science, despite the incredible wealth of knowledge we have, 0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.080 as many of us perhaps know better than ever before 0:01:47.480 --> 0:01:51.800 thanks to the current COVID nineteen pandemic, trying to identify 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.200 what may or may not be a symptom of a 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:59.720 specific illness is never a simple task, and sometimes, despite 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.960 our best efforts, we might never reach a satisfying answer. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.600 For sixty five year old Roger Ellis of Bathurst in 0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:19.120 New Brunswick, Canada, it began in twenty nineteen with a 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:23.040 funny turn. Fearing that he was having a heart attack, 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:27.520 Roger's family rushed him to hospital, where doctors struggled to 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:31.680 determine the cause of his malaise. A few days later, 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:37.040 he suffered a seizure. Over the next three months, Ellis's 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:42.000 condition deteriorated rapidly. He became unsteady on his feet and 0:02:42.160 --> 0:02:47.640 easily disorientated. Soon his mental faculties began to diminish, and 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:53.320 he developed repetitive speech, He lost sixty pounds, became dependent 0:02:53.440 --> 0:02:56.600 on a wheelchair, and was forced to take food through 0:02:56.600 --> 0:03:01.640 a tube. Naturally terrified at what Roger was going through, 0:03:02.120 --> 0:03:05.000 his family could only stand by and watch as his 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:10.960 condition worsened and doctors steadily exhausted all possibilities of what 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:16.600 it might be. At one point, the neurodegenerative disorder kreutz 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:20.640 Felt Jakob disease or c j D seemed a distinct 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:26.639 possibility until that was ruled out. A diagnosis of autoimmune 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:32.360 and cephalitis was also later dismissed. Doctors finally settled on 0:03:32.560 --> 0:03:40.160 progressive supernuclear palsy, another neurodegenerative disease that was until Roger 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:44.400 stabilized for a short period in twenty twenty, something that 0:03:44.560 --> 0:03:49.240 isn't thought possible under that particular condition. For Roger and 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:52.760 his family, the nightmare of not knowing what was happening 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:56.560 and what, if anything, could be done about it seemed 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.600 likely to have no end until whatever it was claimed 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:06.000 Roger's life. Then, one morning in March twenty twenty one, 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:11.360 Roger's son Steve, came across an interesting article regarding Elite 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.400 memo that had been sent from New Brunswick's Deputy Chief 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:20.479 Medical Officer, doctor Kristin Muki. The memo had been sent 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:24.680 on March fifth to most of the provinces doctors, nurses 0:04:24.680 --> 0:04:30.320 and pharmacists, alerting them to an as yet unidentified neurological 0:04:30.440 --> 0:04:41.320 syndrome that appeared to be flourishing in the province. As 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.640 the troubling Memo went on to detail, the first case 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:49.240 of the apparent syndrome was identified in twenty fifteen. Eleven 0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:53.039 cases were found in twenty nineteen, with a further fourteen 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:56.960 the following year and another four more in twenty twenty one. 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.240 By March of that year, there were said to be 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:04.400 forty three cases in total, and five patients had already 0:05:04.480 --> 0:05:08.760 died from the supposed disease. The cases seemed to cluster 0:05:08.920 --> 0:05:12.840 around the town of Moncton in southeast New Brunswick and 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:17.479 the Acadienne Peninsula in the northeast of the province, and 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.920 although the median age of those affected was fifty nine 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.400 years old, the age of those seemingly suffering from it 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:29.760 ranged widely from eighteen to eighty six. In a subsequent 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:34.839 press conference, New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell, 0:05:35.240 --> 0:05:41.680 identified the symptoms as rapidly progressing dementia, unexplained significant weight loss, 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:47.320 a tightening of the muscles, sudden attacks of uncoordination, and 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:52.760 muscle atrophy, almost exactly what Roger Ellis had been suffering. 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:58.760 Like Roger's son, Steve, the people of New Brunswick, already 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:02.280 in the midst of the word global pandemic and living memory, 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.920 were stunned by the news and not unreasonably a little 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:11.400 scared about what exactly was going on. As the public 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:16.159 and politicians demanded answers, a medical task force was quickly 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:21.480 assembled to investigate, led by a neurologist, doctor Allier Morrero, 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:26.560 of the Dumont University Hospital Center in Moncton, who'd first 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:31.240 raised the alarm about the issue back in twenty fifteen. 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:35.120 Marrero was visited by a patient who was suffering a 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:40.120 strange series of symptoms from anxiety, muscle aches, and terrifying 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:45.880 hallucinations to what appeared to be the rapid onset of dementia. 0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:50.080 Over the next few years, more and more patients presented 0:06:50.120 --> 0:06:54.000 to him with the same strange mix of symptoms, each 0:06:54.080 --> 0:07:00.320 potentially understandable in their own right, but unusual collectively. After 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:06.440 ordering blood tests, spinal taps, MRI scans, and electro and cephalograms. 0:07:07.000 --> 0:07:12.680 Doctor Marrero identified that all was suffering genuine neurological dysfunction, 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.680 as well as a degree of brain atrophy, but there 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:21.920 was nothing obvious to suggest a specific disease. Kreus felt 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:25.920 Jakob disease appeared to be the most likely cause, but 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:31.560 all tests for that came back negative. After consulting colleagues 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:35.320 and all the medical texts he could find, Marrero was 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:40.800 completely stumped. The only logical conclusion, he reasoned, was that 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:45.720 he was dealing with something completely new without knowing more. 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.760 He gave it the suitably vague name of neurological syndrome 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:55.640 of unknown Etiology in New Brunswick and swiftly got to 0:07:55.720 --> 0:08:06.480 work on trying to decipher it. With the cases appearing 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:11.160 to cluster around two specific locations, doctor Marrero began to 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:16.320 wander if the illness was environmental, with the terrifying implication 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:20.680 that something in the food, air, or water being breathed 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:24.600 or ingested by the people of New Brunswick was the cause. 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.880 Marrero and his team consulted all manner of experts, from 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:37.559 neurologists and environmental health specialists, to epidemiologists and experts in toxicology, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:42.960 but no one had an answer. Others, however, were skeptical 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:47.439 that there was a new disease at all. A key problem, 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.679 as remarked on at the time by Valerie sim a 0:08:50.880 --> 0:08:55.920 researcher of neurodegenerative disease at the University of Alberta, was 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.920 just how little we know about neurodegenerative disease in general 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:05.520 and indeed the brain. As Sim noted, many of the 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:10.200 symptoms described by doctor Marrero could be applicable to sufferers 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.800 of brain thumors or dementia, for example, but there was 0:09:13.840 --> 0:09:19.120 simply not enough evidence to draw any definitive conclusions. In reality, 0:09:19.480 --> 0:09:23.600 when it comes to diagnosing and neurodegenerative disease, it is 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:27.440 rarely a cut and dry case. Often it is only 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:31.040 after a patient has been observed for a significant period 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:34.440 of time that symptoms can be seen to coalesce into 0:09:34.520 --> 0:09:39.520 something that might point to a specific diagnosis. As Sim 0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:44.000 also said, we see odd neurological syndromes from time to time. 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:50.080 Sometimes we figure them out, sometimes we don't. By the 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:54.439 end of April, however, another four cases of the mysterious 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:59.000 illness had apparently been identified, taking the grand total to 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:04.000 forty seven, and with more cases being identified, the list 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:09.480 of apparent symptoms also grew Intriguingly, Some who claimed to 0:10:09.520 --> 0:10:13.120 be suffering from physical muscle aches appeared to be feeling 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:16.840 the pain not directly from the limb, but only in 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:23.120 the mind. Many patients also reported severe insomnia, sometimes being 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:26.920 unable to sleep for days, while others would sleep so 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.720 deeply it was almost impossible to wake them. Some began 0:10:31.760 --> 0:10:35.880 to hear phantom noises and voices, while others reported the 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:41.079 sensation of insects crawling under their skin or seeing terrifying 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:46.160 visions of the dead. Some also reported prolonged periods of 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:57.360 a kinetic mutism, leaving them unable to speak. Though some 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:00.960 bought at the idea that the illness could be environmental, 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:05.760 there was certainly some precedent for the possibility. Back in 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:10.679 the nineteen forties in Guam in the Western Pacific, Islanders 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:15.000 began presenting themselves to US military doctors who were stationed 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:19.440 there during the Second World War, with symptoms eerily similar 0:11:19.720 --> 0:11:24.120 to those being seen in New Brunswick. Doctors then believed 0:11:24.160 --> 0:11:28.760 the patients, whose symptoms ranged from muscle wasting and shaking 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:33.360 to memory loss were suffering from something similar to Parkinson's 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:38.199 or Alzheimer's. It was later suggested that the illness could 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:42.800 be linked to a toxin called beta methyl amino l 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:47.720 alanine that can be found in ciano bacteria or blue 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:51.600 green algae, which was being consumed by many of the 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:58.319 islands tomorrow people having somehow got into their regular diet. Additionally, 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.320 back in nineteen eighty seven, over a hundred people in 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:06.560 Canada were struck down by a sudden and inexplicable illness 0:12:06.920 --> 0:12:10.920 which claimed the lives of three people. The problem was 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:15.560 eventually found to be caused by demoic acid, a toxin 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:19.720 dangerous to humans as well as sea lions, otters, and 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:24.720 cetaceans that is also found in algae. A harvest of 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:28.280 muscles from Prince Edward Island that had fed on the 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.040 algae were later identified as the carriers of the toxin 0:12:32.480 --> 0:12:37.000 that can cause everything from nausea to seizures and ultimately 0:12:37.120 --> 0:12:42.960 death if not treated quickly enough. This previously unidentified illness 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:49.360 was given the name amnesic shellfish poisoning. Doctor Alier Morrero 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:54.440 and its team looked into both possibilities, but neither appeared 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:59.760 to quite fit. As the expert struggled to identify the 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.800 halls of the mystery illness. Conspiracy theories predictably blossomed in 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:08.960 the absence of concrete answers, with cell phone towers and 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:20.560 the COVID nineteen vaccine among the most prominent theories. As 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:24.760 yet another case was identified in June twenty twenty one, 0:13:24.840 --> 0:13:29.160 the public became increasingly impatient over what they perceived to 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.720 be a lack of transparency from New Brunswick's public health 0:13:32.800 --> 0:13:36.520 team on what exactly was being done to tackle the problem. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.240 By the end of the summer of twenty twenty one, however, 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:45.520 something had shifted in the government's response. Doctor Marrero and 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:50.400 his team were slowly sidelined from the investigation. A separate 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.280 team were then brought in to take a closer look 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:57.640 at the patients who Marrero had previously identified as suffering 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:02.400 from the so called neurological syndrome of unknown etiology in 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:08.880 New Brunswick. Then in October they announced their findings in 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:13.280 a report released by Public Health New Brunswick, presented by 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.600 Health Minister Dorothy Shepherd. It was claimed that what was 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:21.480 by then the eight deaths which had previously been blamed 0:14:21.520 --> 0:14:24.920 on the mysterious illness, had in fact been the result 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:29.880 of known and unrelated pathologies. It was also said that 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.040 there was no evidence to suggest the apparent illness was 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.960 the effect of exposure to any particular food or environment. 0:14:38.120 --> 0:14:41.360 The announcement seemed to suggest that the government of New 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:45.120 Brunswick were trying to distance themselves from the idea that 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:50.760 there was a specific mystery illness at all. Three months later, however, 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:55.520 in January twenty twenty two, an employee of the Vitality 0:14:55.680 --> 0:15:00.040 Health Network, one of only two health authorities operating in 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.040 New Brunswick, came forward to warn the public that the 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.640 illness was very real and that worryingly, it was affecting 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:13.880 a growing number of young adults. The anonymous whistleblower claimed 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.920 that a number of young adults with no prior health 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:21.960 issues were being suddenly struck down with the loss of mobility, insomnia, 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:27.000 and hallucinations, amongst other ailments, all of which seemed to 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:31.320 suggest that environmental factors were a likely cause. Since it's 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:35.640 uncommon for the young to be affected by neurological diseases. 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.680 The claims led some to believe that some kind of 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:44.000 cover up was underway, since one recent study had revealed 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:49.760 high concentrations of the toxin beta methylamino l alanine in 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:54.880 New Brunswick lobster, a produce that has considered vital to 0:15:55.000 --> 0:16:06.040 the local economy. In February twenty twenty two, it was 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:10.520 announced by New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:15.280 that the new oversight committee, installed in addition to doctor 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:20.160 Marrero's team, after reviewing the records of forty eight patients, 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:24.640 had unanimously agreed that those forty eight people, forty six 0:16:24.680 --> 0:16:28.640 of which had been identified by doctor Morrero as suffering 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:32.920 from the apparently mysterious disease, should never have been identified 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.240 as having a neurological syndrome of unknown cause, and that, 0:16:37.480 --> 0:16:43.880 based on the evidence reviewed, no such syndrome existed. Potential 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:47.880 alternative diagnosis, they said, had been found for at least 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:53.040 forty one of the forty eight patients, including cancer, Alzheimer's, 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:59.560 post concussion syndrome, and Louis body dementia. Doctor Russell acknowledged 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.400 short cummings in the way the government had handled the situation, 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:08.680 stating that doctor Marrero's initial theories about the situation should 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:12.560 have been assessed by a second specialist before any serious 0:17:12.560 --> 0:17:17.720 concerns were raised. In future, any similar claims would be 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.080 reviewed in such a way, and if the two specialists 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:25.000 disagreed in their assessment, the case would then be reviewed 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:29.160 by a board of professionals before any public announcement would 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:34.040 be made. Many patients included in the apparent cluster and 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:40.040 their families still a way to clear diagnosis of their condition. Meanwhile, 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:49.960 doctor Allier Morrero continues to stand by his theory. If 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:52.359 you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us, 0:17:52.640 --> 0:17:55.880 you can now do so via Patreon. To receive access 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.119 to add free episodes, just go to patron dot com 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.040 forward slash Unexplained pod to sign up. Unexplained, the book 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.560 and audiobook, featuring ten stories that have never before been 0:18:06.640 --> 0:18:10.040 covered on the show, is now available to buy worldwide. 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:13.760 You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:18.480 among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, 0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:22.119 are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.080 rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.520 free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas 0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:30.520 regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:32.639 have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.600 You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:41.600 or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:44.359 Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast