A mysterious neurological condition characterized by a wide range of symptoms including hallucinations, muscle wasting, vision problems, memory loss and abnormal movements is on the rise.
The number of cases of this syndrome has grown to 48, according to public health officials, while some believe that the actual number of those affected could exceed 200. Of particular concern is the prevalence of young people affected by the disease, which it is not. it is usually associated with dementia-like symptoms or other neurological problems.
The neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero expressed concern about the rise in cases of early-onset and young-onset neurological syndrome, as recently reported by the New York Post.
In a letter dated Jan. 30, 2023, Marrero reported tracking 147 cases, with 57 classified as early-onset and 41 as young-onset, according to the Toronto Star. As of 2021, nine deaths related to the mysterious disease have been reported.
Dr. Marrero, a Canadian physician, told the Daily Mail that he was unable to identify the underlying cause of the unclassified neurological condition or an identifiable cluster of symptoms that could lead to a diagnosis and course of treatment.
“In 2021 he informed government officials that he had just referred two new patients, one in his 30s and one in his 50s, suffering from progressive Alzheimer’s disease,” the Mail reported. “A flurry of blood tests, spinal taps and brain scans performed on patients revealed brain atrophy and neurological dysfunction, but not so uniformly across patients that Dr. Marrero could find a clear diagnosis.”
“Most of the patients were experiencing dementia-like symptoms. Some were suddenly unable to form words and had uncontrollable muscle spasms, difficulty moving and fatigue,” the report added.
A government investigation, which explored possible environmental toxins as a cause, was abruptly halted in 2021. Public Health New Brunswick, the government agency responsible, concluded in its final report released in February 2022 that there was no evidence of ‘an unknown neurological syndrome group.
However, Dr. Marrero and patient advocates refuse to give up on the research, and many suspect a possible connection between the disorder and pesticide use in the predominantly rural province.
Glyphosate, a herbicide commonly used in agriculture, forestry and household weed killers, has come under special scrutiny. Laboratory tests on patients revealed evidence of exposure to glyphosate and other herbicide-related compounds, Marrero noted. The presence of glyphosate has also been linked to the occurrence of blue-green algae blooms in water bodies. Glyphosate contains phosphorus, which can contribute to the growth of blue-green algae, a type of cyanobacteria capable of causing disease in humans and death in animals.
A dedicated group of patients and their families in New Brunswick are calling for a thorough investigation by federal and provincial authorities.
“We formally request that federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos allow Canadian scientists to speak and direct the Public Health Agency of Canada to uphold the Canada Health Act, restoring federal experts to conduct research” , attorney Steve Ellis said. Ellis’ father, Roger Ellis, was among the initial 48 cases reported.
Patient advocate Stacie Cormier expressed her disappointment at the lack of a thorough and unbiased public health investigation.
Cormier’s stepdaughter Gabrielle Cormier was forced to drop out of college and abandon her passion for figure skating in her 20s when she became ill with memory loss, vision problems and the inability to stand for extended periods. In 2021, he made a poignant final visit to an ice rink, fearing for his life.
Many political observers suspect that the 2021 investigation may have been shut down because of a possible link to mRNA vaccines.
As Neha Mathur explained to News Medical, Covid-19 mRNA vaccines carry a spike (S) protein that has been shown to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), thus potentially causing neurological pathology unknown in patients.
“The COVID-19 mRNA vaccine mimics the infection with COVID-19, but instead of the whole virus, it synthesizes only the spike (S) protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by to the immune response, without causing COVID-19 infection,” Mahur notes.
“The harmful effects of the high levels of protein S produced by the mRNA vaccine are not yet fully understood,” he added. “Researchers have warned that they induce a complex reprogramming of innate immune responses; moreover, the S protein produced by the vaccine remains close to the vaccination site and even circulates in the bloodstream to directly affect host cells with long-term consequences. Therefore, it is crucial to monitor the biodistribution and location of protein S of mRNA vaccines.”
“Studies have recovered COVID-19 mRNA from the cerebrospinal fluid of vaccinated individuals, suggesting that it can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB),” he added. “Furthermore, even without crossing the BBB, several cytokines induced by COVID-19 infection cross the BBB to affect central nervous system (CNS) function.”
“In this way, the mRNA of COVID-19 reaches the brain, infects astrocytes and triggers neuropathological changes that contribute to the structural and functional alterations in the brain of patients with COVID-19,” he noted. “Researchers have also raised concerns that lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) can rapidly diffuse into the CNS via the olfactory bulb or blood. However, these phenomena[a]including the role of innate memory responses to LNPs, should be further explored in future research.”
A 2022 journal article in Trends in Molecular Medicine further explores the ability of the Spike (S) protein to cross the blood-brain barrier.
“Given the widespread expression of ACE2 in the human brain, a study of particular interest demonstrated that IV-injected radioiodinated S1 (I-S1) readily crossed the blood-brain barrier by adsorptive transcytosis in male mice, was taken up by regions brains and entered. the brain space of the parenchyma,” the journal noted. “I-S1 was also taken up by the lung, spleen, kidney and liver; Intranasally administered I-S1 also entered the brain, although at lower levels than after iv administration. Similarly, S1 was found to disrupt blood-brain barrier integrity in a 3D blood-brain barrier microfluidic model.”
There are others who suspect that the SARS-CoV-2 virus itself may lead to unknown neurological pathology, as noted in a 2021 article in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, “The spike protein SARS- CoV-2 disrupts the blood-brain barrier (BBB), but its pathogenic mechanism of action is unknown.”
Although it is currently unknown what is causing the neurological syndrome, doctors are urgently investigating the health problem for a definitive answer.
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