Scientist looking for connection between brain illness in N.B., geography

A professor at Mount Allison University is looking at New Brunswick's experience with brain disease after the province examined what had become known as a mysterious brain disease and found it didn't exist.

Matthew Betti, an assistant professor of mathematics and computer science, is looking to survey people who have lived or spent a substantial amount of time in New Brunswick over the past 20 years, particularly anyone experiencing neurological symptoms. 

He hopes to find out if there are any environmental, behavioural, geographical or demographic factors that could be causing neurological conditions in the province. 

"Given my background in epidemiology and mathematical modelling of disease spread, I thought this was somewhere that my skills could be put to good use," he told Information Morning Moncton.

Last year, Public Health sounded the alarm about "a distinct atypical neurological syndrome" causing symptoms ranging from muscle spasms to visual hallucinations. But in February, the province said such a syndrome doesn't exist, and alternative diagnoses of known diseases were found for 41 of the 48 patients. Ten of those patients had died.

An oversight committee made up primarily of neurologists did find that some had unusual symptoms, but they weren't the same for all patients.

"This does not mean that these people aren't seriously ill. It means they are ill with a known neurological condition," Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Jennifer Russell said at the time.

Even though Public Health said there is no mystery neurological illness, Betti still wanted to study the issue more broadly, and his survey is not operating with the assumption that a mystery illness does, or does not, exist. 

The province doesn't compare the 34 people interviewed for its study with the general population, he said.

"In their survey, 91 per cent of their respondents ate lobster, and they claim that's not significant," he said. "It very well could mean nothing. But you would have to have another group of people who are unaffected."

Betti said to show that lobster is not significant, for example, the study has to show that 91 per cent of the general population in New Brunswick eat lobster regularly as well.

He said geography also matters because not all people in the Atlantic region drink the same water or even breathe the same air.

"We don't eat the same food, especially in a province like New Brunswick, where a lot of food often comes from local sources."

He said neurological symptoms could include balance and memory problems, hallucinations and other brain function issues.

He said the study will compile data spanning decades because of the nature of neurological disease.

"Some neurological diseases have long incubation periods, which means that they can go unnoticed for over a decade," he said.

As many participant as possible needed

Betti said his team has already received 30 responses and the team is still looking for volunteers to take the online survey. The team has been posting on social media, looking for people to sign up.

"If we can get 100 people, 150 people participating, we can have much more confidence in any results that we find."

He said once the results are stripped of identifying details, data and analysis will be made public in the fall or winter of next year. However, there is no cutoff date. If people want to submit the data in weeks or months from now, they can still submit, and their responses can be incorporated.. 

Betti said it's very possible that he and his team "may find nothing," but it doesn't mean they won't continue working until a concrete answer is found.

"It may just be anomalous, you know, a statistically improbable series of events that led us here. But if there is a causal link or some sort of trigger, we're hoping to find that."