Havana Syndrome, Part 2: How a dog's brain may help solve the mystery of Canadian diplomats' Cuban nightmare

[Gunnar Larson]

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/havana-syndrome-part-2-how-a-dogs-brain-may-help-solve-the-mystery-of-canadian-diplomats-cuban-nightmare


Could a dog’s brain offer any clues to the mysterious concussion-like
syndrome affecting Canadian and American diplomats who were posted to Cuba?

That is one of the many threads being pulled in an effort by researchers
and scientists — and those affected — to better understand the condition
referred to as Havana Syndrome, which has been blamed for debilitating some
Canadian diplomats and their families.

Little is known about what could have caused the symptoms shared by some
diplomats who were posted in Cuba, although U.S. investigators have ruled
out sonic weapons, according to the Washington Post. A doctor who examined
some of the Canadian and U.S. diplomats has suggested the damage stems from
a microwave weapon.

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Havana Syndrome, Part 2: How a dog's brain may help solve the mystery of
Canadian diplomats' Cuban nightmare
Author of the article:Elizabeth Payne
Published Feb 27, 2019 • Last updated Feb 28, 2019 • 5 minute read
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Andrew King sketches of Elizabeth Payne's Havana Syndrome series.
PHOTO BY ILLUSTRATION BY ANDREW KING /Postmedia
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Could a dog’s brain offer any clues to the mysterious concussion-like
syndrome affecting Canadian and American diplomats who were posted to Cuba?

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Article content
That is one of the many threads being pulled in an effort by researchers
and scientists — and those affected — to better understand the condition
referred to as Havana Syndrome, which has been blamed for debilitating some
Canadian diplomats and their families.

The brains of those diplomats and their spouses are being tested at
Dalhousie’s Brain Repair Centre. Officials there were unavailable for
interviews, but one of the diplomats involved told this newspaper that
early findings have amazed researchers.

Little is known about what could have caused the symptoms shared by some
diplomats who were posted in Cuba, although U.S. investigators have ruled
out sonic weapons, according to the Washington Post. A doctor who examined
some of the Canadian and U.S. diplomats has suggested the damage stems from
a microwave weapon.

Still others have suggested the sounds being reported were actually
crickets and that the symptoms are psychosomatic or a form of mass
hysteria, hypotheses that anger those living with the after-effects.

Dr. Michael Hoffer, a professor of otolaryngology and neurological surgery
at the University of Miami, who examined 25 people linked to the diplomatic
community in Havana, is frustrated by suggestions that the harms done to
some of the diplomats are not real. Hoffer was the lead author of a paper
that found all of the diplomatic personnel complaining of dizziness, ear
pain and tinnitus suffered from an otolithic abnormality (affecting inner
ear organs related to balance) and cognitive dysfunction. Such injuries
could result in other symptoms such as cognitive difficulties and
exhaustion, he said.

“Here is the thing: These people did have an injury. I don’t know who
injured them. I don’t know what injured them. But I am impatient with the
fact that a lot of people are saying it was crickets or an infectious
disease.

“These people did have an injury. I don’t know who injured them. I don’t
know what injured them. But I am impatient with the fact that a lot of
people are saying it was crickets or an infectious disease.
“Something happened to them. These findings of the inner ear disorder
cannot be faked,” he said. “It is not hysteria. It is not crickets.”

The suggestion that the symptoms could be psychosomatic has added to the
frustration of affected Canadian diplomats. According to documents obtained
through access to information by the National Post, a federal government
official suggested early on that the symptoms could be psychosomatic.

When contacted by this newspaper, one of those diplomats was wary about
people questioning the syndrome. That diplomat, who uses the pseudonym
Diplomat Allen, is among 15 Canadian diplomatic staff and their families
suffering from Havana Syndrome. They are suing the federal government for
$28 million, citing lack of support, information and treatment, among other
things.

He and his family began experiencing mysterious symptoms now associated
with the syndrome when they were living in Havana in 2017.

Allen and his family left Havana in the fall of 2017 after a series of
unexplained events, including a screeching metallic sound in the middle of
the night that left them with a variety of symptoms including nausea,
uncontrolled nosebleeds, headaches and cognitive difficulties.

During the summer of 2017, before the family returned to Ottawa, their
three Shih Tzu dogs were behaving strangely, said Allen. Almost every
night, the dogs would run to the corner of their yard backing on to a house
where American diplomatic staff lived and bark frantically, for no apparent
reason. “There was nothing there.”

The dogs were shipped back to Ottawa after the family returned. One of
them, a seven-year-old, subsequently began behaving strangely — suddenly
biting at non-existent flies, arching its back and lying on its back and
putting its feet in the air. A veterinarian diagnosed seizures and told the
family there was something wrong with the dog’s brain. The vet recommended
the dog be euthanized.

Allen passed the information to a medical official at Global Affairs who
asked if they could arrange for a necropsy on the dog. The necropsy
(similar to an autopsy but performed on an animal) was conducted in
Kemptville, where the University of Guelph has a campus.

Later, Allen and his wife, along with other Canadian diplomats from Havana,
travelled to Halifax where they are being assessed and studied at Dalhousie
University’s Brain Repair Centre. Doctors there obtained a sample of the
dog’s brain, said Allen.

In December, researchers at Dalhousie told Allen they had found “something
significant” in the dog’s brain and needed more samples. “It could be
related,” Allen was told.

Any links may help fill in the many blanks surrounding the mysterious
syndrome.

Researchers at Dalhousie are continuing to study the Canadian diplomats and
spouses. Allen said he has been told “they were amazed” at what they found
through MRIs of the diplomats’ brains and other tests.

“All of us have brain bleeds that we shouldn’t have — and our thought
processes are slower than people our age,” he said. MRIs show bleeds coming
from small capillaries in their brains, he said, which are completely
different from the control group. “For us, this is the concrete evidence we
needed that this was real.”

Canadian diplomats and families have also been diagnosed with vestibular
and vision disorders, cognitive disorders and other issues.

There is a small sense of relief at seeing some concrete evidence, but for
Allen and others, that does little to allay fears about the future. Those
with young children are particularly worried about how they might be
affected in the long term.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the affected
diplomats have Canada’s “utmost sympathy and support.”

Meanwhile, there are more questions than answers about how and why the
damage occurred.

Were Canadians collateral damage or targets? What kind of weapons were
used? And why?

Daniel Livermore, a former foreign service officer who is a senior fellow
at uOttawa’s department of public and international affairs, said there is
little more than speculation about the source of the mysterious injuries to
diplomats — one is that Havana Syndrome resulted from some sort of
eavesdropping device gone awry, another is that the injuries are the result
of targeted weapons.
Cuba, which has always had good international relations with Canada, is not
considered to be behind the attacks, if that is what they were. Russia and
China are both considered possible suspects if there were attacks with
weapons.

As to what kind of weapons, there are still more questions.

“I don’t know how this is being weaponized,” Livermore said of speculation
that the damage was done with microwave weapons. “I don’t even know what
the motivation would be. I don’t see a motive,” he said.
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