In 2013, Moncton, New Brunswick-based neurologist, Alier Marrero of the Dr. Georges-L.-Dumont University Hospital Centre had requested CJDSS assistance in running tests on a suspected case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)—an incurable, fatal disease. The results were negative.[28][29][15] PHAC's CJDSS provided specialized expertise by interpreting diagnostic and providing autopsy results.[4] The patient was retroactively identified as experiencing NSUC symptoms, according to NBPH.[1][30][4] Marrero, who has since treated most of the 48 patients in the unknown disease cluster, said that he had detected "unusually young patients with progressive neurological symptoms in the Moncton and Acadian Peninsula areas" as early as 2013, according to a 28 October 2021 CBC News report.[31][28]
On 17 March it was disclosed that "in 2019, 11 cases were discovered, with 24 more cases discovered in 2020 and another six cases in 2021." At the time, 42 possible cases had been tallied, and five people had died from the disease.[4]
As of 25 April 2021, the cluster had been expanded to 47 possible cases.[15] Of the 47, 37 were confirmed and 10 were suspected cases.[32]
By April 2021, six deaths had been linked to the disease, but the NBPH said that "in some cases, additional information is needed to determine if the cause of death was a result" of the NSUC.[1] The Department of Health restated the history at this time, as the first patient displayed symptoms in 2013 (instead of 2015 as had previously been reported) though that was deduced only in 2020.
www.wenxuecity.com
