40 useless and dozens paralysed by thriller mind sickness as lady ‘solely eats frozen meals’
A small community has been plagued by a mysterious brain disease responsible for the deaths of 40 people for more than a decade.
For years residents on the Acadian peninsula in the Canadian province of New Brunswick have struggled with an illness that causes dementia-like symptoms and partial paralysis. The province’s new leader Premier Susan Holt has recently reopened an investigation into the affliction that has affected around 450 people. Previously the Public Health Agency of Canada, under the purview of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, had offered £2.8million to the province to help investigate cases.
But the New Brunswick Health department concluded there was no cluster of brain disease in the area following their own investigation. The department said it believed patients were actually misdiagnosed dementia and cancer sufferers, leading officials to cease looking into the epidemic.
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(Image: Getty Images)
Unfortunately, the illnesses and symptoms continued, with local authorities stating the current total case count was 48 people, the Mail reports.
Dubbed The New Brunswick neurological syndrome of unknown etiology, the condition causes people to develop problems with hallucinations, sleep, focus, memory and brain fog, and has in some cases even prevented sufferers from walking.
The Canadian government were first notified of the syndrome in late 2020 by the Dr Coulthart’s Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS), when 40 sufferers were presented with symptoms similar to the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD).
(Image: Handout)
CJD is a fatal disorder similar to mad cow disease that leads to muscle problems and severe and rapid brain deterioration.
A year later 48 patients were identified as part of a cluster, with most cases centred around Moncton, New Brunswick. Some people identified as victims of the disease were under the age of 40.
This included Luc LeBlanc, 39, who was previously healthy but was told by doctors his brain is “like somebody of an 80-year-old”, according to CBC.
(Image: Handout)
The lack of proper explanation has been frustrating many people such as Terriline Porelle. Porelle, who used to be an active person but recently told The Guardian she now has real issues attempting to move her hands and can only eat frozen meals.
In December 2022 a study conducted on people with similar neurological symptoms found over 90% had an agricultural chemical called glyphosate in their blood. Although officials were quick to call this inconclusive, the herbicide glyphosate has been scrutinised by government scientists for decades.
Speaking about the disease earlier this month, Premier Holt said: “The inexplicability of it is agony. Not knowing what’s caused it, what’s going to happen next, what the treatment path is.
“But knowing that it doesn’t seem to be treatable and people around you have died from this is terrifying. So, I think we need to be doing everything we can to shed some light on this and find a way to stop what’s making people sick.”
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