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Physical Characteristics That Cause Havana Syndrome. PHOTO/DAILY
TEXAS – Two new studies into the mysterious 'Havana syndrome' have found no physical cause. But a group of experts found physical characteristics that may be linked to mental health.
Since 2016, more than 1,000 US government personnel deployed internationally have reported hearing disturbing noises and feeling pressure in their heads, followed by symptoms such as severe headaches, dizziness and cognitive dysfunction.
Since federal employees stationed in Havana, Cuba, first reported this unusual health incident (AHI), Havana syndrome has become the term the media uses to refer to the condition.
US researchers led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) now report that they found no significant differences in brain scans or other biological tests between people with Havana syndrome and healthy controls.
Although the results provide little insight into possible biological explanations for the symptoms, the authors emphasize there are several factors to consider when interpreting the findings.
“The lack of evidence of differences detectable by MRI between individuals with AHI and controls does not exclude that adverse events impacting the brain occurred at the time of AHI,” said NIH neurologist Carlo Pierpaoli, first author of one of the studies as reported by Science Alert, Sunday (24/3/2024).
“It is possible that individuals with AHI may be experiencing the consequences of an event that causes their symptoms, but the injury does not produce the long-term neuroimaging changes typically observed after severe trauma or stroke,”
“We hope these results will reduce concerns about AHI being associated with severe neurodegenerative changes in the brain.”
The researchers studied different types of MRI scans to measure brain volume, structure and function in 81 participants who experienced AHI and compared them with 48 healthy controls, 29 of whom had similar occupational duties although no AHI was reported.