yuhui
9th May 2021, 16:19
Doctors in Canada have been coming across patients showing symptoms similar to that of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a rare fatal condition that attacks the brain. But when they took a closer look, what they found left them stumped.
The province says it's currently tracking 48 cases, evenly split between men and women, in ages ranging from 18 to 85. Those patients are from the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton areas of New Brunswick. Six people are believed to have died from the illness.
At first, there can be behavioural changes like anxiety, depression and irritability, along with unexplained pain, muscle aches and spasms in previously healthy individuals.
Frequently, patients develop difficulties sleeping - severe insomnia or hypersomnia - and memory problems. There can be fast-advancing language impairments that make it difficult to communicate and hold a fluent conversation - issues like stuttering or word repetition.
Another symptom is rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy, as well as visual disturbances and co-ordination problems, and involuntary muscle twitching. Many patients need the assistance of walkers or wheelchairs.
Some develop disturbing hallucinatory dreams, or waking auditory hallucinations.
Several patients have presented with transient "Capgras delusion", a psychiatric disorder in which a person believes someone close to them has been replaced by an impostor.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56910393
The province says it's currently tracking 48 cases, evenly split between men and women, in ages ranging from 18 to 85. Those patients are from the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton areas of New Brunswick. Six people are believed to have died from the illness.
At first, there can be behavioural changes like anxiety, depression and irritability, along with unexplained pain, muscle aches and spasms in previously healthy individuals.
Frequently, patients develop difficulties sleeping - severe insomnia or hypersomnia - and memory problems. There can be fast-advancing language impairments that make it difficult to communicate and hold a fluent conversation - issues like stuttering or word repetition.
Another symptom is rapid weight loss and muscle atrophy, as well as visual disturbances and co-ordination problems, and involuntary muscle twitching. Many patients need the assistance of walkers or wheelchairs.
Some develop disturbing hallucinatory dreams, or waking auditory hallucinations.
Several patients have presented with transient "Capgras delusion", a psychiatric disorder in which a person believes someone close to them has been replaced by an impostor.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56910393