When a neurologist in New Brunswick, Canada, started seeing a sharp uptick of patients suffering from a seemingly new neurological syndrome, it triggered a government investigation. In 2022, that investigation concluded that no such mystery syndrome existed, that all of the patients in the cluster suffered from a range of known ailments. Case closed? Not so much, according to a story in the New York Times Magazine. The neurologist who first raised the issue says the number of patients in his care who have what he considers undiagnosable brain disease has risen to more than 430, of which more than 100 are under 45. In the view of Dr. Alier Marrero, that means "New Brunswick is now the center of one of the most prolific young-onset dementia clusters in the world," writes Greg Donahue.
The story digs into the cases themselves, the complicated political and medical turf wars among provincial and federal officials, and the strongly held views on both sides—along with conspiracy theories aplenty. The upshot is that three years after the cluster of cases first made news, "no satisfactory explanation has been found, and the New Brunswick syndrome remains shrouded in mystery—and controversy," writes Donohue. A key point of contention is whether something environmental is at least partly to blame—a dicey issue in picturesque New Brunswick, where tourism is a big money-maker. "It's a question that underscores not only the tangled relationship between public health and patients' rights, but also the inherently confounding nature of neurological conditions," writes Donahue. (Read the full story.)
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