Post by addisona on Feb 28, 2022 15:55:46 GMT
sonic attack or mass paranoia? New evidence stokes debate over diplomats' mysterious illness
The mystery began late in 2016. Personnel attached to the U.S. embassy in Havana developed symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and insomnia after hearing strange loud sounds or feeling a sensation of pressure. Since then, dozens of diplomats have been withdrawn from Cuba, and international tensions have risen. This month, the mystery spread, with reports from the U.S. Department of State that "a number" of diplomats at its consulate in Guangzhou, China, had been flown home with symptoms similar to those reported in Cuba—where two more diplomats have reportedly fallen ill. Yet 18 months in, an explanation is nowhere in sight, although hypotheses have proliferated.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed a deliberate "health attack" for the Cuba ailments, whereas some neuroscientists and psychologists—and a panel of Cuban scientists—have written them off as the result of stress. Some unaffected diplomats from the Havana embassy agree. "There was a perfect storm of suggestion and paranoia," one told Science, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But a few researchers are finding hints of a physical cause. In February, a team at the University of Pennsylvania described neurological deficits in embassy personnel who had reported symptoms. And in unpublished results, Michael Hoffer, an otolaryngologist at the University of Miami in Florida, and his colleagues describe a unique vestibular and cognitive disorder in two dozen people evacuated from the Havana embassy. They believe some kind of directed energy device may have caused inner-ear damage.
Taking both teams' observations together, "It seems like something's going on," says Lee Goldstein of Boston University, who studies neurodegenerative diseases. But, he adds, "We're still very much in the early days of trying to figure this out."
The first to fall ill was a U.S. intelligence agent in Havana. The "index case," as Hoffer calls him, complained to the embassy doctor of ear pain, tinnitus, vertigo, and feeling "cognitively not perfect." The agent said he had heard "a really odd, loud noise that seemed to follow him in the room," says Hoffer, who examined him in February. "When he opened the front door, the sound went away." Other U.S. personnel reported similar symptoms.
www.science.org/content/article/sonic-attack-or-mass-paranoia-new-evidence-stokes-debate-over-diplomats-mysterious
The mystery began late in 2016. Personnel attached to the U.S. embassy in Havana developed symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and insomnia after hearing strange loud sounds or feeling a sensation of pressure. Since then, dozens of diplomats have been withdrawn from Cuba, and international tensions have risen. This month, the mystery spread, with reports from the U.S. Department of State that "a number" of diplomats at its consulate in Guangzhou, China, had been flown home with symptoms similar to those reported in Cuba—where two more diplomats have reportedly fallen ill. Yet 18 months in, an explanation is nowhere in sight, although hypotheses have proliferated.
Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson blamed a deliberate "health attack" for the Cuba ailments, whereas some neuroscientists and psychologists—and a panel of Cuban scientists—have written them off as the result of stress. Some unaffected diplomats from the Havana embassy agree. "There was a perfect storm of suggestion and paranoia," one told Science, speaking on condition of anonymity.
But a few researchers are finding hints of a physical cause. In February, a team at the University of Pennsylvania described neurological deficits in embassy personnel who had reported symptoms. And in unpublished results, Michael Hoffer, an otolaryngologist at the University of Miami in Florida, and his colleagues describe a unique vestibular and cognitive disorder in two dozen people evacuated from the Havana embassy. They believe some kind of directed energy device may have caused inner-ear damage.
Taking both teams' observations together, "It seems like something's going on," says Lee Goldstein of Boston University, who studies neurodegenerative diseases. But, he adds, "We're still very much in the early days of trying to figure this out."
The first to fall ill was a U.S. intelligence agent in Havana. The "index case," as Hoffer calls him, complained to the embassy doctor of ear pain, tinnitus, vertigo, and feeling "cognitively not perfect." The agent said he had heard "a really odd, loud noise that seemed to follow him in the room," says Hoffer, who examined him in February. "When he opened the front door, the sound went away." Other U.S. personnel reported similar symptoms.
www.science.org/content/article/sonic-attack-or-mass-paranoia-new-evidence-stokes-debate-over-diplomats-mysterious