New Brunswick requests help from PHAC to review neuro patients’ records

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) is deploying two epidemiologists to New Brunswick in September to support the province’s public health team, at the request of New Brunswick’s public health authority.

The move follows a letter from a high-profile neurologist warning that a growing number of abnormally young patients are facing a rapid onset of neurological symptoms.

Moncton neurologist Dr. Alier Marrero sent a letter to PHAC and New Brunswick public health in January, saying he was seeing an increase in the number of patients, and that some patients were in the “advanced stages of clinical deterioration.”

In a statement, PHAC confirmed its epidemiologists will work under the supervision of New Brunswick public health and conduct a “three-day scoping exercise that will include an on-site review of patient records that have been collected to date.”

It said the review of records will inform the next steps for provincial public health. 

The New Brunswick government did not respond to a request for comment regarding why it asked PHAC for help. 

Province closed investigation in 2022

This decision to involve federal epidemiologists marks a reversal in the provincial government’s position.

In 2022, the New Brunswick government closed an investigation into a cluster of 48 patients experiencing neurological symptoms — a move The Guardian reported perplexed some federal scientists.

An oversight committee appointed by the provincial government determined there is no mystery brain disease, and that the majority of patients in the cluster were misdiagnosed and ought to have been diagnosed with known diseases.

The oversight committee cast doubt on Marrero’s work, saying it “could not conclude that the main referring neurologist had sought second opinions.”

Marrero has become a fierce advocate for patients. 

In his January 2023 letter, he wrote to Canada’s top public health official and the province of New Brunswick’s chief medical officer, warning them the number of cases has grown from 48 to more than 147, claiming that some are as young as 17 years old.

He wrote that some patients are experiencing “very advance evidence of neurodegenerative diseases,” including dementia, severe pain syndrome, brain and muscle atrophy and more. 

“Some of these patients are, unfortunately, in advanced stages of clinical deterioration and near the end of life,” he wrote. 

He also warned that some patients’ blood work showed elevated levels for compounds found in herbicides such as glyphosate, and said more testing should be done to rule out environmental toxins, including the neurotoxin BMAA, which is produced by blue-green algae. 

“I believe there is an urgency to act promptly and use all means necessary to investigate and get to the root cause,” he wrote in the letter.