Doctors in Canada are concerned they could be dealing with a previously unknown brain disease amid a string of cases involving memory loss, hallucinations, and muscle atrophy, Report informs, citing Guardian.
For more than a year, public health officials have been tracking a “cluster” of 43 cases of suspected neurological disease in the province with no known cause.
Residents first learned of the investigation last week after a leaked memo from the province’s public health agency asked physicians to look out for symptoms similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease – a rare, fatal brain disease caused by misformed proteins known as prions.
Many of the symptoms, including memory loss, vision problems, and abnormal jerking movements, triggered an alert with Canada’s CJD surveillance network. Despite the initial similarities, screening produced no confirmed cases of CJD.
“We don’t have evidence to suggest it’s a prion disease,” said Dr. Alier Marrero, the neurologist leading New Brunswick’s investigation.