5-year study finds no brain abnormalities in 'Havana Syndrome' patients

An array of advanced tests found no brain injuries or degeneration among U.S. diplomats and other government employees who suffer mysterious health problems once dubbed «Havana syndrome,» researchers reported Monday.

The National Institutes of Health's (NIH) nearly five-year study offers no explanation for symptoms including headaches, balance problems and difficulties with thinking and sleep that were first reported in Cuba in 2016 and later by hundreds of American personnel in multiple countries.

But it did contradict some earlier findings that raised the spectre of brain injuries in people experiencing what the State Department now calls «anomalous health incidents.»

«These individuals have real symptoms and are going through a very tough time,» said Dr. Leighton Chan, NIH's chief of rehabilitation medicine, who helped lead the research. «They can be quite profound, disabling and difficult to treat.»

Yet sophisticated MRI scans detected no significant differences in brain volume, structure or white matter — signs of injury or degeneration — when Havana syndrome patients were compared to healthy government workers with similar jobs, including some in the same embassy.

Nor were there significant differences in cognitive and other tests, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The findings are the latest in an effort to unravel a mystery that began when personnel at the U.S. embassy in Cuba began seeking medical care for hearing loss and ear-ringing after reporting sudden weird noises.

After several Canadians in Cuba also reported illnesses, Global Affairs Canada also grew concerned, commissioning a clinical study by a team of multidisciplinary researchers in Halifax, affiliated with