New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt wants the Public Health Agency of Canada to help investigate a mysterious brain illness that has touched hundreds of people in her province, the National Post reports.
Holt emphasized that the number of patients suffering from this illness is already too much in New Brunswick, and its causes still remain a mystery.
“We need to conduct a thorough investigation into what is making people sick,” Holt said in an interview on Thursday. “Because we don’t know right now. Not only do we not know how to pin it down, diagnose and treat this, we don’t know what’s causing it.”
The situation worsened after the statement by one of the leading Canadian scientists, Michael Coulthart, who said that he was forbidden to continue researching this illness, reports Planet Today. Coulthart suggests that a major factor may be environmental factors, or a combination of factors that cause a cascade of neurodegenerative syndromes such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. He stressed that this illness does not fit into the framework of a standard diagnosis, and this enables politicians to avoid discussing the problem and limit scientists’ access to research.
Another federal scientist supported his opinion, and said that 350 people had already suffered from this mysterious illness. This raises serious concerns as the spread of this illness is becoming an epidemic.
Experts say that without a complete study and analysis of the sources of this illness, the risk of its spreading can affect not only New Brunswick, but also other regions of Canada.