cluster of mystery brain disease in canada

 they don't know what causes it and blame the doc who diagnosed it.

But hey they will offer to kill you anyway if you ask.

BBC Article:

too long to post but they end up saying it is a few people with actual brain diseases but different types and many of those this one doctor diagnosed are just psychological problems. The culprit hinted at is pesticides or pollution, but if this was true, why just in this area? I mean it is a trendy claim but doesn't make sense.

The first thing came to my mind was CJD from deer wasting syndrome: A prion disease that there have been cases diagnosed in the USA in those eating deer meat.

The other thing came to my mind is Mad Cow disease in the UK, which had a similar coverup.

Grok says they tested for this and didn't find prion disease. But I thought prion disease was hard to diagnose but never mind:

The mysterious neurological syndrome reported in New Brunswick, Canada, starting around 2019–2021, initially raised concerns because it presented symptoms somewhat similar to prion diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) — a rare, fatal brain disorder caused by misfolded proteins (prions). These symptoms included rapid cognitive decline, muscle spasms, ataxia (loss of coordination), behavioral changes, and dementia-like effects.Health authorities, including the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS), investigated a cluster of cases (initially around 40–48, later reported to grow significantly). Testing explicitly ruled out known human prion diseases, including CJD and any variant linked to animal prions.

Early speculation included the possibility of a novel prion disease potentially related to chronic wasting disease (CWD) — a prion disease affecting deer, elk, moose, and other cervids (sometimes called "zombie deer disease").

 

CWD is well-established in parts of Canada (mainly Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Quebec) and the U.S., but no cases have been confirmed in wild or farmed deer in New Brunswick. There is also no documented evidence of CWD transmitting to humans, despite ongoing research into potential zoonotic risks.

However, extensive follow-up investigations, including a major 2025 peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), reassessed cases through independent clinical evaluations and autopsies.

 

The conclusions were clear: No evidence supported a single new/mystery neurological disease or any prion-related cause (including CWD-like prions). The cases were attributed to well-known conditions such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, functional neurological disorders, traumatic brain injury, metastatic cancer, and other established neurodegenerative or non-neurodegenerative issues.

 

Autopsies (including those using specific tests for CWD prions) showed no prion pathology. Statistical analysis indicated the probability of an undetected novel disease in the broader cluster was extremely low (less than 0.001).

Public Health New Brunswick has largely concluded its investigation into a "neurological syndrome of unknown cause," recommending affected individuals seek care through specialized clinics for their diagnosed conditions.

Some ongoing reviews or debates persisted into late 2025/early 2026, but the scientific consensus points to misdiagnosis rather than a new prion-linked outbreak.

For context on animal prion diseases in the region:CWD in deer (and related cervids) remains a concern across North America, spreading through saliva, urine, feces, and contaminated environments — but it has not been detected in New Brunswick deer. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or mad cow disease) in cows is extremely rare in Canada due to strict controls (no recent cases), and no links to human cases in New Brunswick. In summary, the New Brunswick brain disease cluster was not a prion disease in humans, nor connected to prion diseases in deer or cows. It appears to have stemmed from a combination of known neurological conditions, with initial similarities to CJD leading to the prion investigation that was ultimately ruled out.

more here on possible treatment:

The results suggest that CHARM can safely suppress prion protein levels in brain cells. It thus could form the basis for potential prion disease treatments. Other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington’s, are also caused by a buildup of toxic misfolded proteins. CHARM might help with treating these diseases as well..