Another health authority has failed to find any connection between an undiagnosed neurological illness that has impacted more than 200 New Brunswickers. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says they found no evidence of any unusual pattern of mysterious brain injury based on population level surveillance, information from patients and caregivers, engagement with the neurological that reported the illness, and available data. “Although some patients, caregivers, and the reporting neurologist continued to express concerns about an unusual illness, the available data did not show evidence of a shared health event or unusual pattern of illness,” reads a summary of the report on the Government of New Brunswick’s website. Government communications officer Judy Winter provided a statement on behalf of New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Yves Léger. The province’s top doctor thanks the PHAC for their work on the file. “Our primary concern has been, and remains, the well-being of the affected patients,” the statement reads. “We will continue to work closely with the regional health authorities to ensure patients have access to the care and support they need. “We have accepted PHAC’s recommendations, and our focus remains on supporting appropriate patient care and ensuring the needs of those affected remain at the forefront of our response.” CTV News Atlantic had also asked for comment from Health Minister John Dornan, which was not acknowledged by the province. Despite the fact the report details a range of diagnoses among the more than 200 patients identified by Moncton-based neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero, who first notified the province of New Brunswick’s “mysterious neurological illness” in late 2020 after an initial group of 48 patients was discovered, the report does recognize that “important uncertainties remain.” “The presence of a range of diagnoses for some patients means that there is no single common health event affecting the entire group of patients,” the PHAC’s 76-page report reads in part. “However, the absence of interpretation of clinical findings for most patients leaves uncertainty about whether such an event could exist for a subgroup of patients.” PHAC has made the following recommendations to the Office of New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Heath (OCMOH) along with the Regional Health Authorities (RHA) as appropriate which are as followed: “Our primary concern has been and continues to be for the affected patients,” the online report summary reads. “Moving forward, we will work with our partners in the health care system to ensure patients are able to access the care and information they need.” New Brunswick Chief Medical Officer of Health first began investigating the mysterious illness in 2021. The investigation found no evidence of a common illness between the 48 patients studied at that time. The symptoms those patients were dealing with included: In 2023, one of the referring neurologists raised new concerns about the unknown illness as it relates to possible exposures from a group of patients to certain metals and herbicides. One report was conduced over the course of three years and was released in January of this year. That report found no evidence of widespread environment exposure contributing to an illness, and that no new or unknown brain diseases were identified. The PHAC declined an interview with CTV Atlantic and deferred further question on the file to New Brunswick Health Department, who in turn deferred any questions on the matter to the PHAC. Patient reaction Sarah Nesbitt is part of the group of New Brunswickers that has been suffering from unexplained symptoms. She says the PHAC report doesn’t pretend to have the final answers, unlike the provincial government’s report. “They basically say that they don’t have enough information to draw any firm conclusions,” Nesbitt says. “Then use this to suggest that because of this no further investigation is warranted at this time.“There are two constructive points though. One is that they admit that, despite not being able to identify a common illness, there may be a subset of patients with a common illness that the data they received did not allow them to identify. “The other appeared in the form of urging N.B. to do better going forward, both in terms of providing the health-care patients so clearly need, and in terms of being more diligent to collect informative data to be able to deal with this issue (and other similar issues) more effectively.” She remains hopeful patients receive actual help, including proper diagnoses and helpful treatments “So many have gone so long without any of this,” Nesbitt says. “The suffering is beyond comprehension. No human should be left to suffer for so long.” With files from CTV National News’ Laura Brown. For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.
