New Brunswick will conduct an investigation into a neurodegenerative illness affecting dozens of individuals for which no cause has been determined, Premier Susan Holt says. The mystery illness has so far been seen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
The illness was first reported to the New Brunswick provincial health authority in 2020, according to a New Brunswick government website. Approximately 48 cases were reported to the Canadian Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS) by April 2021. CJDSS is an arm of the Public Health Agency of Canada that does national surveillance for human prion disease. Prion diseases are rare, fatal, degenerative brain disorders.
