United States: NIH probe of ‘Havana syndrome’ finds no sign of brain injuries

NIH probe of ‘Havana syndrome’ finds no sign of brain injuries  

By Joel Achenbach and Shane Harris, Washington Post, March 18, 2024

(No subscription required to read)

The four-year study comes amid ongoing conjectures about ‘targeted attacks’ with pulsed-energy weapons

Repeated scans of patients suffering from the mysterious ailment commonly known as “Havana syndrome” found no significant evidence of brain injury, according to an ongoing investigation by the National Institutes of Health.

A man pushes a wheelbarrow near the U.S. Embassy in Havana, where government employees were working when they mysteriously became ill. (Yamil Lage/AFP/Getty Images)

Two studies, published Monday in JAMA, found few significant differences in a range of cognitive and physical tests among more than 80 patients who had been stationed in Cuba, Austria, China and other locations compared with a control group of people with similar job descriptions.


The researchers said they did not seek to find the origin of the ailments, which the U.S. government refers to now as “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs). Nor did the NIH researchers seek to disprove conjectures, which have received extensive media coverage, that American officials were attacked by an unidentified foreign adversary using some kind of newly invented pulsed-energy weapon.

The focus instead was on the physical condition of the patients, including whether they showed signs of injuries or brain damage.

The new findings are poised to reignite the controversy over this now-global medical mystery, which sparked a rash of inconclusive investigations, roiled the State Department and Central Intelligence Agency and heightened tensions between the United States and Cuba. While the NIH study is unlikely to resolve the politically charged debate, it could intensify doubts in the scientific and intelligence communities about the existence of unidentified adversaries targeting government officials with an exotic weapon.

The researchers emphasized that the patients who volunteered for the study, which began in 2018, do have severe symptoms that can be debilitating.

Continue reading:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/03/18/nih-havana-syndrome-mri-scans/