An investigation involving brain injury by an unknown cause among US Consulate workers in Cuba has expanded to China.
As we discussed in an earlier article, US government workers in Cuba complained of hearing strange noises described by some as a humming or buzzing. The noises were accompanied by nausea, dizziness, headache, and other symptoms. Eventually, the core staff of the US Cuban consulate was evacuated, leaving only a skeleton crew to handle US affairs in the region.
Upon medical evaluation and testing, about 25 percent of the consulate workers in Havana were diagnosed and treated for traumatic brain injury with symptoms consistent with concussive injury.
The Guangzhou consulate in China is housed in a building completed in 2013. There are about 170 American government workers posted there, along with their families. Government workers described strange noises heard in their living quarters, prior to experiencing symptoms. The apartment buildings are located in the neighborhood of the US consulate.
In April of this year, a US State Department employee in Guangzhou reported suffering symptoms between late 2017 and April, 2018. She was evacuated in April. Although medical teams have been deployed to the consulate to test workers, there are no concrete findings as yet. Theories about toxins, errant listening devices, and mass hysteria have been advanced and the agency has warned other employees to report unusual symptoms.
In June, another government worker and his family were evacuated as the agency posted a health alert to Americans working in China. Others have been evacuated since then, and more may follow.
“Unusual, Unexplained Physical Symptoms”
The brain injuries suffered by government workers in Cuba have derailed attempts at better diplomatic ties to that nation. While the incidents in Cuba and China smack of political intrigue, at the heart of the mystery are brain injuries known only to be caused by exposure to concussive force or blunt impact.
An accidental cause of injury seems implausible, leaving expert and layperson alike to wonder what type of biological, sonic, mechanical, or even visual weapon could injure the brain without trace or evidence.
The symptoms described by government workers in China are consistent with those described in Cuba. After a significant battery of tests by US medical experts on consulate workers evacuated from Havana, 21 were found to be suffering mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused by a “non-natural source.”
In what could be a suggestion of the development of unknown advanced weaponry, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) written after evaluation of government personnel in Cuba registers “concern for a novel mechanism of a possible acquired brain injury from a directional exposure of undetermined etiology.”
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