Season 06 Episode 26 Extra: The Invisible Fog

into the previous show. In our last episode, Under the Rocks and Stones, we took a trip to the island of Guernsey, which was seemingly beset by a series of

strange events in the early twentieth century. The spate of violent attacks, which peaked with the brutal and unexplained murder of one local resident, was thought by some to be linked to the excavation of a prehistoric grave site located in the north the island, though we can never know for sure if vengeful spirits, or even just the thought of such a thing, were truly to blame for some

of the peculiar events. The confutation of causation an action that directly causes a subsequent outcome, and correlation when two events or actions are related but not dependent, on one another has long been a bugbear for those in the scientific community. Never as this more pronounced than during times

of a potential public health crisis of unknown origin. It is often said by medical professionals that medicine is not an exact science, despite the incredible wealth of knowledge we have, as many of us perhaps know better than ever before thanks to the current COVID nineteen pandemic, trying to identify what may or may not be a symptom of a specific illness is never a simple task, and sometimes, despite our best efforts, we might never reach a satisfying answer.

For sixty five year old Roger Ellis of Bathurst in New Brunswick, Canada, it began in twenty nineteen with a funny turn. Fearing that he was having a heart attack, Roger's family rushed him to hospital, where doctors struggled to determine the cause of his malaise. A few days later, he suffered a seizure. Over the next three months, Ellis's condition deteriorated rapidly. He became unsteady on his feet and

easily disorientated. Soon his mental faculties began to diminish, and he developed repetitive speech, He lost sixty pounds, became dependent on a wheelchair, and was forced to take food through a tube. Naturally terrified at what Roger was going through, his family could only stand by and watch as his condition worsened and doctors steadily exhausted all possibilities of what it might be. At one point, the neurodegenerative disorder kreutz Felt Jakob disease or c j D seemed a distinct

possibility until that was ruled out. A diagnosis of autoimmune and cephalitis was also later dismissed. Doctors finally settled on progressive supernuclear palsy, another neurodegenerative disease that was until Roger stabilized for a short period in twenty twenty, something that

isn't thought possible under that particular condition. For Roger and his family, the nightmare of not knowing what was happening and what, if anything, could be done about it seemed likely to have no end until whatever it was claimed Roger's life. Then, one morning in March twenty twenty one, Roger's son Steve, came across an interesting article regarding Elite memo that had been sent from New Brunswick's Deputy Chief

Medical Officer, doctor Kristin Muki. The memo had been sent on March fifth to most of the provinces doctors, nurses and pharmacists, alerting them to an as yet unidentified neurological syndrome that appeared to be flourishing in the province. As the troubling Memo went on to detail, the first case of the apparent syndrome was identified in twenty fifteen. Eleven cases were found in twenty nineteen, with a further fourteen the following year and another four more in twenty twenty one.

By March of that year, there were said to be forty three cases in total, and five patients had already died from the supposed disease. The cases seemed to cluster around the town of Moncton in southeast New Brunswick and the Acadienne Peninsula in the northeast of the province, and although the median age of those affected was fifty nine years old, the age of those seemingly suffering from it

ranged widely from eighteen to eighty six. In a subsequent press conference, New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell, identified the symptoms as rapidly progressing dementia, unexplained significant weight loss, a tightening of the muscles, sudden attacks of uncoordination, and muscle atrophy, almost exactly what Roger Ellis had been suffering.

Like Roger's son, Steve, the people of New Brunswick, already in the midst of the word global pandemic and living memory, were stunned by the news and not unreasonably a little scared about what exactly was going on. As the public and politicians demanded answers, a medical task force was quickly assembled to investigate, led by a neurologist, doctor Allier Morrero, of the Dumont University Hospital Center in Moncton, who'd first raised the alarm about the issue back in twenty fifteen.

Marrero was visited by a patient who was suffering a strange series of symptoms from anxiety, muscle aches, and terrifying hallucinations to what appeared to be the rapid onset of dementia. Over the next few years, more and more patients presented to him with the same strange mix of symptoms, each potentially understandable in their own right, but unusual collectively. After ordering blood tests, spinal taps, MRI scans, and electro and cephalograms.

Doctor Marrero identified that all was suffering genuine neurological dysfunction, as well as a degree of brain atrophy, but there was nothing obvious to suggest a specific disease. Kreus felt Jakob disease appeared to be the most likely cause, but all tests for that came back negative. After consulting colleagues and all the medical texts he could find, Marrero was

completely stumped. The only logical conclusion, he reasoned, was that he was dealing with something completely new without knowing more. He gave it the suitably vague name of neurological syndrome of unknown Etiology in New Brunswick and swiftly got to

work on trying to decipher it. With the cases appearing to cluster around two specific locations, doctor Marrero began to wander if the illness was environmental, with the terrifying implication that something in the food, air, or water being breathed or ingested by the people of New Brunswick was the cause. Marrero and his team consulted all manner of experts, from neurologists and environmental health specialists, to epidemiologists and experts in toxicology,

but no one had an answer. Others, however, were skeptical that there was a new disease at all. A key problem, as remarked on at the time by Valerie sim a researcher of neurodegenerative disease at the University of Alberta, was just how little we know about neurodegenerative disease in general and indeed the brain. As Sim noted, many of the symptoms described by doctor Marrero could be applicable to sufferers of brain thumors or dementia, for example, but there was

simply not enough evidence to draw any definitive conclusions. In reality, when it comes to diagnosing and neurodegenerative disease, it is rarely a cut and dry case. Often it is only after a patient has been observed for a significant period of time that symptoms can be seen to coalesce into something that might point to a specific diagnosis. As Sim also said, we see odd neurological syndromes from time to time.

Sometimes we figure them out, sometimes we don't. By the end of April, however, another four cases of the mysterious illness had apparently been identified, taking the grand total to forty seven, and with more cases being identified, the list of apparent symptoms also grew Intriguingly, Some who claimed to be suffering from physical muscle aches appeared to be feeling the pain not directly from the limb, but only in

the mind. Many patients also reported severe insomnia, sometimes being unable to sleep for days, while others would sleep so deeply it was almost impossible to wake them. Some began to hear phantom noises and voices, while others reported the sensation of insects crawling under their skin or seeing terrifying visions of the dead. Some also reported prolonged periods of a kinetic mutism, leaving them unable to speak. Though some bought at the idea that the illness could be environmental,

there was certainly some precedent for the possibility. Back in the nineteen forties in Guam in the Western Pacific, Islanders began presenting themselves to US military doctors who were stationed there during the Second World War, with symptoms eerily similar to those being seen in New Brunswick. Doctors then believed the patients, whose symptoms ranged from muscle wasting and shaking to memory loss were suffering from something similar to Parkinson's

or Alzheimer's. It was later suggested that the illness could be linked to a toxin called beta methyl amino l alanine that can be found in ciano bacteria or blue green algae, which was being consumed by many of the islands tomorrow people having somehow got into their regular diet. Additionally, back in nineteen eighty seven, over a hundred people in Canada were struck down by a sudden and inexplicable illness

which claimed the lives of three people. The problem was eventually found to be caused by demoic acid, a toxin dangerous to humans as well as sea lions, otters, and cetaceans that is also found in algae. A harvest of muscles from Prince Edward Island that had fed on the algae were later identified as the carriers of the toxin that can cause everything from nausea to seizures and ultimately death if not treated quickly enough. This previously unidentified illness

was given the name amnesic shellfish poisoning. Doctor Alier Morrero and its team looked into both possibilities, but neither appeared to quite fit. As the expert struggled to identify the halls of the mystery illness. Conspiracy theories predictably blossomed in the absence of concrete answers, with cell phone towers and

the COVID nineteen vaccine among the most prominent theories. As yet another case was identified in June twenty twenty one, the public became increasingly impatient over what they perceived to be a lack of transparency from New Brunswick's public health team on what exactly was being done to tackle the problem. By the end of the summer of twenty twenty one, however, something had shifted in the government's response. Doctor Marrero and

his team were slowly sidelined from the investigation. A separate team were then brought in to take a closer look at the patients who Marrero had previously identified as suffering from the so called neurological syndrome of unknown etiology in New Brunswick. Then in October they announced their findings in a report released by Public Health New Brunswick, presented by

Health Minister Dorothy Shepherd. It was claimed that what was by then the eight deaths which had previously been blamed on the mysterious illness, had in fact been the result of known and unrelated pathologies. It was also said that there was no evidence to suggest the apparent illness was the effect of exposure to any particular food or environment. The announcement seemed to suggest that the government of New Brunswick were trying to distance themselves from the idea that

there was a specific mystery illness at all. Three months later, however, in January twenty twenty two, an employee of the Vitality Health Network, one of only two health authorities operating in New Brunswick, came forward to warn the public that the illness was very real and that worryingly, it was affecting

a growing number of young adults. The anonymous whistleblower claimed that a number of young adults with no prior health issues were being suddenly struck down with the loss of mobility, insomnia, and hallucinations, amongst other ailments, all of which seemed to suggest that environmental factors were a likely cause. Since it's uncommon for the young to be affected by neurological diseases.

The claims led some to believe that some kind of cover up was underway, since one recent study had revealed high concentrations of the toxin beta methylamino l alanine in New Brunswick lobster, a produce that has considered vital to

the local economy. In February twenty twenty two, it was announced by New Brunswick's Chief Medical Officer, doctor Jennifer Russell, that the new oversight committee, installed in addition to doctor Marrero's team, after reviewing the records of forty eight patients, had unanimously agreed that those forty eight people, forty six of which had been identified by doctor Morrero as suffering from the apparently mysterious disease, should never have been identified

as having a neurological syndrome of unknown cause, and that, based on the evidence reviewed, no such syndrome existed. Potential alternative diagnosis, they said, had been found for at least forty one of the forty eight patients, including cancer, Alzheimer's,

post concussion syndrome, and Louis body dementia. Doctor Russell acknowledged short cummings in the way the government had handled the situation, stating that doctor Marrero's initial theories about the situation should have been assessed by a second specialist before any serious

concerns were raised. In future, any similar claims would be reviewed in such a way, and if the two specialists disagreed in their assessment, the case would then be reviewed by a board of professionals before any public announcement would be made. Many patients included in the apparent cluster and their families still a way to clear diagnosis of their condition. Meanwhile, doctor Allier Morrero continues to stand by his theory. If you enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us,

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