Latest news with #mysterydisease
CBC
08-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
What's making New Brunswickers sick? Premier Susan Holt intends to find out
Social Sharing Premier Susan Holt says it's critical the province push ahead with its investigation into what's making some New Brunswickers sick, despite a new scientific study that found no evidence of a mystery brain disease. "There's too many unanswered questions for us to stop the work that Public Health is doing to be able to provide patients — and potentially future patients — with the information they need about what's causing these illnesses," Holt told reporters Thursday in Fredericton during her weekly update on U.S. tariffs. She was responding to questions about a report, published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, known as JAMA. Thirteen Canadian doctors and researchers reassessed 25 of the 222 patients diagnosed by Moncton neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero as having a "neurological syndrome of unknown cause." They concluded all of the cases — 14 living and 11 who have died — were attributable to well-known conditions, such as Alzheimer's traumatic brain injury and cancer. WATCH | 'There might not be one answer, there might be multiple things at play here,' Holt says: Holt says N.B. to keep studying mysterious cluster of sick people, despite report 2 hours ago Duration 0:55 A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association says there's no mystery brain disease in New Brunswick, but Premier Susan Holt says the province's own investigation will continue. Their analysis of the patients also provides "strong evidence against a common cause of the patients' conditions, such as exposure to an environmental toxin," because of the wide range of problems, they wrote. The work the province is doing "remains critical," Holt said. "We need to work with the patients and the population of New Brunswick to answer the question about what is making New Brunswickers sick," she said. "The study didn't answer that question." Government report due this summer In March, the New Brunswick government launched the "data analysis phase" of its investigation into undiagnosed neurological symptoms that Marrero says are now affecting some 500 people in seven provinces. The investigation will consider whether environmental substances, such as the herbicide glyphosate or heavy metals, are a factor. "It is anticipated the results of the analysis will soon be shared with the Public Health Agency of Canada," Dr. Yves Léger, New Brunswick's chief medical officer of health, said in an email. A public report with recommendations is expected this summer. "I think that the work that Public Health is doing and the support we're getting from the Public Health Agency of Canada is critical for us to continue to try to answer those questions for New Brunswickers, knowing that there might not be one answer," Holt said. "There may be multiple things that are at play here in different areas of the province and in different situations." The premier did not say whether the province will help Marrero's hundreds of other patients to get a second opinion, as the study urges. In an emailed statement, New Brunswick Medical Society president Dr. Lise Babin said, "We trust that the process that has recently been put in place by Public Health New Brunswick will consider all relevant research and data related to this ongoing issue." Holt pledged last summer to launch a transparent scientific investigation if elected in the October provincial election. New Brunswickers suffering from unexplained symptoms and the doctors trying to help them had "been ignored" by the Blaine Higgs government "for far too long," she said in a statement at the time.
CTV News
08-05-2025
- Health
- CTV News
Mystery brain disease doesn't exist, medical study says
A so-called mystery disease that hundreds of New Brunswickers say they suffer from doesn't exist according to a new medical study released Wednesday. Published in the journal JAMA Neurology, the study reviewed the cases of 25 patients that were evaluated at two hospitals in New Brunswick and Ontario. Dr. Anthony Lang, co-author of the study, said in 100 per cent of the cases evaluated, they were able to make a diagnosis of an established neurological problem. 'A hundred per cent we were able to make a diagnosis. Therefore, we do not feel that there is a neurological syndrome of unknown cause. They're all defined,' said Lang. That doesn't sit well with Sarah Nesbitt, a patient and environmental advocate who says her symptoms were caused by an environmental toxin. Nesbitt believes the study has inaccuracies and didn't feel reviewing the cases of 25 people was enough. 'There's actually 500 patients. They said in the study that there was no pesticides and herbicides. We have our physical test results. So, a major concern is it's confusing the public. This isn't the investigation that New Brunswick is doing,' said Nesbitt. Nesbitt said she hopes the province doesn't use the study in their own investigation into the illness. 'We don't want interference with this investigation,' said Nesbitt. Stacie Quigley Cormier's 23-year-old daughter suffers from neurological issues and is chronically ill. The patient advocate thinks the study is highly problematic. 'I think it's inaccurate. I think it's false. And I think it's very, very harmful to the patients and also to their care,' said Quigley Cormier. Dr. Alier Marrero, a Moncton-based neurologist who was the first to diagnose patients with a mystery illness, strongly disagrees with the study's conclusions. 'I am appalled that a parallel investigation with a small number of patients, has apparently been conducted for a long time, without our knowledge or our patients and families' knowledge,' said Marrero in a statement. 'I am in profound disagreement with the study conclusions and have many questions regarding the methods and the content, including cases never evaluated by us or that might have not been part of this cluster.' Marrero said he's evaluated more than 500 patients and provided a significant amount of environmental exposure evidence with many of them. But Lang doesn't see it that way. 'It's highly unlikely or if not impossible, that a single environmental factor then could have created this syndrome that has been touted to be due to environmental toxins,' said Lang. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said the province will continue to try and determine what is going on. 'We need to work with the patients and the population of New Brunswick to answer the question about what is making New Brunswickers sick, and I think that the study didn't answer that question,' said Holt. As for Nesbitt, one of Marrero's patients, she said she's on the road to recovery and wishes the best for other patients. 'To be able to give people a way to heal, a direction to be in and hopefully some sort of recovery or justice for the patients,' said Nesbitt. With files from the Canadian Press and Sarah Plowman. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
