Curious Illness Killing Young New Brunswickers - Government Refuses to Recognize Its Existence

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Bizarre neurological illness plagues young Canadians

Otherwise healthy young adults in New Brunswick are falling ill with crippling symptoms

FILE PHOTO © AFP / Dr. Timothy Rittman, University of Cambridge

Dozens of young people with no preexisting conditions are developing symptoms of a new disease as activists and families suspect a cover-up on the part of the local government.

A whistleblower with Vitalité Health Network in New Brunswick told The Guardian on Sunday that symptoms include hallucinations, difficulty thinking, limited mobility, insomnia, and rapid weight loss. Local government has reportedly struggled to dismiss the growing number of cases as Alzheimer’s or other neurological diseases uncommon outside the elderly.

While the official number of cases recorded since the mystery illness was first publicly acknowledged in early spring has not budged upward from 48, multiple sources told The Guardian that as many as 150 people may have contracted the fast-moving illness. Still more young people require assessment, and several have died.

“I’m truly concerned about these cases because they seem to evolve so fast,” the source told the outlet, acknowledging that “we owe them some kind of explanation.”

One of the more disturbing elements of the condition is how little is known regarding transmission. In at least nine cases, caretakers and others in close contact with sick individuals have developed similar symptoms to the ailing party, suggesting the illness not only spreads readily between unrelated individuals but that there may be environmental factors involved. Some have compared the illness to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain disease caused by misshapen proteins called prions, though screening reportedly produced no confirmed CJD cases.

The province has struggled to keep the cases under wraps – the case cluster only became public last year when a memo was leaked to the media, and the government has insisted the “cluster” itself is merely the result of “misdiagnoses” grouping unrelated illnesses together. Officials declared in October that eight fatal cases were due to “known and unrelated pathologies,” rather than a shared and unknown illness. An epidemiological report released in October supposedly ruled out any food, behavioral, or environmental exposure that could explain the problem.

However, another public health scientist who sought to remain anonymous suggested the government was covering something up. “The fact that we have a younger spectrum of patients here argues very strongly against what appears to be the preferred position of the government of New Brunswick – that the cases in this cluster are being mistakenly lumped together.”

Tim Beatty, whose father Laurie died with similar symptoms only to be posthumously declared an Alzheimer’s case, is attempting to have his father’s remains tested for neurotoxins, including β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA), a suspected trigger for the illness. The local economy relies heavily on lobster fishing, and the chemical can be found in high concentrations in lobster, according to a study cited by The Guardian. Beatty and other families who’ve lost loved ones to the mysterious illness have speculated that the government’s refusal to acknowledge the possible existence of the disease cluster in the region could be politically or economically motivated.

“If a group of people wanted to breed conspiracy theorists, then our government has done a wonderful job at promoting it,” Beatty told The Guardian. “Are they just trying to create a narrative for the public that they hope we’ll absorb and walk away from? I just don’t understand it.”

Has anyone attempted to associate the disease with Covid-19 vaccines?

Do You Know What Pulmonary Hypertension Is?

You might have it and not know it

May 5th is World Pulmonary Hypertension Day
But November is Pulmonary Hypertension Month

This is a horrible, debilitating and deadly disease
and much too little is known about it

Not well known

Pulmonary Hypertension is a fatal disease that many people have and don't know it. It is not well understood by most family physicians, and they will often diagnose asthma instead. Even some hospitals will refuse to treat a PH'er.

My wife has been on a Facebook group with other PH'ers, and we have lost several of them in the past two years. One of them went to her local hospital in a city of 50,000, and they refused to treat her. They sent her on a 5 hour road trip to the nearest hospital that would treat PH'ers. A few days later she died.

Symptoms

The major symptoms are:

Shortness of breath (dyspnea), initially while exercising and eventually while at rest
Fatigue
Dizziness or fainting spells (syncope)
Chest pressure or pain
Swelling (edema) in your ankles, legs and eventually in your abdomen (ascites)
Bluish color to your lips and skin (cyanosis)

Racing pulse or heart palpitations


What is it

Briefly, it is an increase in blood pressure between your heart and lungs. Left untreated, it can destroy your heart in as little as two years. With treatment, you can survive for another ten to twenty years but life will not be easy. There are no age restrictions that apply to PH; anyone is susceptible.

To find out more about this horrible disease please visit the Mayo Clinic.

For support or to make a donation to badly needed research, please visit the PHAssociation

Super-Gonorrhea - "on the Cusp of Being Untreatable"

Super-gonorrhoea's spread 'causing huge concern'

By James Gallagher
Health editor, BBC News website

Gonorrhoea copyright Thinkstock

Doctors have expressed "huge concern" that super-gonorrhoea has spread widely across England and to gay men.

The new superbug prompted a national alert last year when it emerged in Leeds, as one of the main treatments had become useless against it.

Public Health England acknowledges measures to contain the outbreak have been of "limited success".

Doctors fear the sexually transmitted infection, which can cause infertility, could soon become untreatable.

Cases of super-gonorrhoea have now been detected in the West Midlands, London and southern England.

Only 34 cases have been officially confirmed in laboratory testing, but this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg of an infection that can be symptomless.


'Infections spread faster'

The outbreak started in straight couples, but is now being seen in gay men too.

"We've been worried it would spread to men who have sex with men," Peter Greenhouse, a consultant in sexual health based in Bristol, told BBC News.

"The problem is [they] tend to spread infections a lot faster simply as they change partners more quickly."

They are also more likely to have gonorrhoea in their throats. There, further resistance is more likely to develop as antibiotics get to the throat in lower doses and the area is also teeming with other bacteria that can share the resistance to drugs.

The bacterium that causes gonorrhoea is extremely adept at shrugging off our best antibiotics.

So two drugs - azithromycin and ceftriaxone - are used in combination.

But now resistance to azithromycin is spreading, doctors fear it is only a matter of time before ceftriaxone fails too.


What is gonorrhoea?


Gonorrhoea @CAVALLINI JAMES/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

The disease is caused by the bacterium called Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

The infection is spread by unprotected vaginal, oral and anal sex.


Most women and gays have no obvious symptoms

Of those infected, about one in 10 heterosexual men and more than three-quarters of women, and gay men, have no easily recognisable symptoms.

But symptoms can include a thick green or yellow discharge from sexual organs, pain when urinating and bleeding between periods.

Untreated infection can lead to infertility, pelvic inflammatory disease and can be passed on to a child during pregnancy.


Safe sex urged

England's most senior doctor has already warned gonorrhoea is on the cusp of becoming untreatable.

And Dr Gwenda Hughes, the head of the sexually transmitted infections unit at Public Health England, said: "We cannot afford to be complacent.

"If strains of gonorrhoea emerge that are resistant to both azithromycin and ceftriaxone, treatment options would be limited as there is currently no new antibiotic available to treat the infection."

She is encouraging people to practise safe sex to minimise the risk of sexually transmitted infections.


Infected partners

There is also a concerted campaign to find the sexual partners of people who have the superbug.

But a Public Health England report acknowledges this has been of "limited success" so far.

Of 50 sexual partners reported, only 22 were successfully followed up, but, worryingly, 94% of partners tested had the infection.


Image copyright Thinkstock

The British Association for Sexual Health and HIV said there needed to be a rapid response to the infection and has warned its members to be on the lookout.

Its president, Dr Elizabeth Carlin, said: "The spread of high level azithromycin-resistant gonorrhoea is a huge concern and it is essential that every effort is made to contain further spread.

"Failure to respond appropriately will jeopardise our ability to treat gonorrhoea effectively and will lead to poorer health outcomes for individuals and society as a whole."


'Perfect storm'

But Mr Greenhouse warned that sexual health services were facing their "biggest restriction ever" due to funding cuts.

The emergence of a dangerous superbug was creating a "perfect storm scenario", he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has announced a new tool to help GPs cut the number of antibiotics they prescribe.

It will allow practices to see how their antibiotic prescribing habits compare with other practices.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "I want to see antibiotics being prescribed only when necessary and hope this will be a new weapon to help GPs cut the numbers of antibiotics needlessly being given out."