Mystery brain disorder in Canada

[LAJ12345]

A Canadian neurologist has seen multiple patients with mystery symptoms similar to a fatal brain disorder that affects one in 1 million people each year.

stuff.co.nz/world/300306458...?

[reedboat2]

Yikes. Thank God we just have PD, huh?

[LAJ12345 in reply to reedboat2]

Yes. It sounds a little like that outbreak of als near lake water somewhere that I read about ages ago.

[1LittleWillow]

It sounds like PD with dementia but on steroids. Horrifying.

[LAJ12345 in reply to 1LittleWillow]

Yes. Scary and weird.

[MarionP]

Form of naegleria or naegleria fowleri?

[LAJ12345 in reply to MarionP]

That sounds awful. I’m not sure

[MarionP in reply to LAJ12345]

Well I wasn't asking for your thought particularly, I was suggesting a line of thought to anyone with some expertise and experience to contribute.

This disease behaves like naegleria and often it comes from birds and water. It's an amoeba and behaves largely like this syndrome does, including its incredible speed. Get it up your nose and you're done faster than spinal meningitis.

Doing much the same thing, but slower, is that cat poop virus that a majority of the population now has in their brains (called toxiplasmosis, from the toxoplasma gondii parasite, one of the world's most common parasites. Infection usually occurs by eating undercooked contaminated meat, exposure from infected cat feces, or mother-to-child transmission during pregnancy....most of us do have it now, and it just lives in us, normally not noticeable, contained by a healthy immune system...until the immune system loses some punch).

Lots of these sorts of things out there, like Hanta virus aerosolized from mouse droppings, and wider and faster as the world heats up, more coming (ask any reputable soil or infectious disease scientist).

[LAJ12345 in reply to MarionP]

Interesting. Perhaps you should write and suggest it to them. I guess they are not looking at this post so probably won’t read this.

[Rhyothemis]

Awful. I hope they try ISRIB on compassionate use basis, or at least rapamycin. Prion / protein misfolding disease seems most likely; they've done autopsies so I would think an infectious agent like amoeba or fungus would have been detected. Hope they figure it out really soon.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Rhyothemis]

It is terrifying that these things can pop up in such numbers in such a small community. If it isn’t genetic and it is quite recent it must either be contagious or caused by the local environment somehow I suppose. I hope it doesn’t spread further but it sounds like it is isolated to the one place. I hope they get to the bottom of it quickly.

[Rhyothemis in reply to LAJ12345]

I'd like to see the autopsy reports; if there is spongiform pathology then I would bet a large sum that it is a prion disease and that it may be a form of sporadic fatal insomnia:rarediseases.org/rare-disea...

In the region there is a popular holiday dish called pate a la viande - meat pie (the Quebecois version is called tortiere). It is made with a mixture of ground meats and can include wild game such as rabbit and venison. There could have been prion containing meat pies served years ago at a restaurant / grocery store and it would take time to show up in different people depending on the dose and their physiology. Just one little rabbit or deer could have had a novel prion disease. Person-to-person transmission via medical instruments is possible if they are not properly sterilized using protocols for prion contaminated instruments.

It is also a coastal area, so toxic algae is a possibility though that should cause ALS.

[LAJ12345 in reply to Rhyothemis]

Interesting.

[MarionP]

Single location suggests a local environmental phenomenon...for now. Who knows, maybe a big chunk of radioactive leaves or balsa wood got blown in from Chernobyl or some military or company dropped in some industrial hazmat waste. That whole latitude is full of nuclear weapons development material from Russia, I heard one of my Sammi (used to be called Laplanders) was born with three eyes, and he wasn't even royalty.

[LAJ12345 in reply to MarionP]

That’s an interesting idea. Or radioactive space junk? Does that mean the researchers are in danger? I hope they have tested for that!

[MarionP]

Well, it's always something, you know? 🙂 Thing about life, nobody gets out alive. Personally I believe that when we get to that point, opium.