Young patients with mystery neurological illness in New Brunswick anxious for answers
CBC
Terriline Porelle was at work during the summer of 2020 when she had a sharp pain in her leg. She assumed it was a pinched nerve.
She had no idea it was the first indication she might be suffering from a mysterious, fatal neurological illness.
Things got worse, though. Once an enthusiastic outdoor adventure-seeker, Porelle now bumps into walls and doors making her way around her house in the southeastern New Brunswick community of Cocagne.
It has been a long road for the 33-year-old since that first shot of pain. A road that eventually led to a cluster of 48 patients with a neurological syndrome of unknown cause in New Brunswick.
Porelle's symptoms have dimmed a bright young lifestyle — something true for other young people facing the same diagnosis.
According to the Department of Health, nine of the cases, or about 20 per cent of the cluster, are under the age of 40, CBC News has learned.
Porelle is hoping the province's report on its clinical review of the cluster, expected later this month, will hold answers to her questions about what is making her sick.
The syndrome was identified in a March 2021 memo from the office of the chief medical officer of health, which stated, "Preliminary investigation conducted in late 2019/early 2020 determined this to be a distinct atypical neurological syndrome."
In the memo leaked to Radio-Canada, New Brunswick health-care professionals were advised of a new neurological illness that had affected a cluster of people, including some as young as 18, in the Moncton and Acadian Peninsula regions.
Public Health won't release a breakdown of the ages of members of the cluster, citing privacy, but has previously reported patients range in age from 18 to 85.
The average age of the women in the cluster is 54 years, and of the men it's 62. Nine patients, whose ages are not being released, have died.
Dr. Alier Marrero, who identified 46 of the 48 cases, says the number of younger patients and the types of symptoms they face are "worrisome."
Symptoms range from balance issues and muscle spasms to behavioural changes and memory problems.
Porelle developed many of those symptoms. Soon after the pain in her leg stopped, she noticed muscle spasms. First it was her eyelids, then her toes, and her fingers. Then she noticed what she calls a brain fog.
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