By Shannon Molloy October 8, 2021 - 12:20 PM
Source: News
Photo Source: Unsplash, Thomas Millot
After hundreds of cases of a bizarre neurological illness, now a fresh theory has been offered on what is actually causing it.
When Americans posted in the country’s embassy in Cuba began experiencing bizarre neurological symptoms, from chronic headaches to dizziness and hearing loss, panic erupted. It was 2016 and a diplomat reported hearing strange noises before the onset of a prolonged illness, with several others soon coming forward with similar complaints.
The Untied States had just re-established its presence in Havana the year prior and tensions on the ground were simmering. And not just among Cubans.
The country lies just 77 kilometres from the US coast, making it an ideal spot for foreign adversaries to set-up listening posts to eavesdrop.
Listening posts like the giant antenna the Soviet Union built and maintained during the Cold War … the one that intelligence experts believe was switched back on in recent years.
Around the time these bizarre symptoms began emerging – dubbed Havana Syndrome – Russia and China were beefing up their own diplomat presence in Cuba.
The suggestion that either country – or both – were targeting Americans with some kind of covert sonic or microwave weapon began to spread.
But quietly, others had a controversial alternative theory for the cause of Havana Syndrome. The use of microwave weapons For several decades now, defense researchers have been tinkering with the use of microwaves in weapons development.
During the Cold War, American spies infiltrated a Soviet laboratory where scientists were conducting a range of experiments.
In one, a microwave beam aimed at the throats of frogs could quickly make their hearts stop beating. The US itself has also tested microwaves, with leaked documents referencing a program in the 1990s exploring whether they could be used to disperse crowds, incapacitate people and even cause death. When the illnesses in two dozen staff emerged in Cuba, all beginning with a strange sound described as grinding metal of a sickening squealing noise, the intelligence community began theorising. Had a foreign military developed a new kind of weapon that could stealthily inflict damage on individuals?
Reports of similar symptoms have since emerged from hundreds of spies, diplomats and government officials around the world, in Russia, China, parts of Europe and Asia, and the Middle East.
A visit by Vice President Kamala Harris to Vietnam in August was suddenly delayed when a consular official in Hanoi began experiencing ringing in their ears, sparking safety concerns.
Some sufferers recovered while others say the noise and associated headaches or nausea never went away. A few were forced into medical retirement.
The suggestion that a sonic weapon was to blame were disputed by many, but Associated Press in 2017 quoted unnamed US officials as confirming “diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences”.
Publicly, the State Department said little, but in mid-2017 two Cuban diplomats were abruptly expelled from their embassy in Washington DC.
In response, the Cuban Government issued a statement saying the expulsion was in retaliation for Havana Syndrome, but denied any knowledge of such a weapon.
“Cuba has never permitted, nor will permit, that Cuban territory be used for any action against accredited diplomatic officials or their families, with no exception,” the statement read. There was evidence of neurological damage in some sufferers examined after complaining of Havana Syndrome symptoms. Some details have emerged about evidence of the damage caused in some patients, including markers in the blood that indicate brain damage and inner ear damage.
In late 2020, the National Academy of Science concluded that a “pulsed radiofrequency energy” was the likely culprit in at least some of the cases.
But, no amount of tests or examinations by doctors have uncovered a medical cause and no weapon has been identified.
That’s caused some to wonder if there’s a much simpler explanation.
An uncomfortable theory Like many, neurologist Robert Baloh first heard about Havana Syndrome via media reports back in 2016 and was instantly intrigued.
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) emeritus professor, who studies the inner ear and specialises in dizziness and hearing loss, began digging for more information. “When news of these events broke, I was baffled, but after reading descriptions of the patients’ symptoms and test results, I began to doubt that some mysterious weapon was the cause,” Dr Baloh wrote in an article for The Conversation.
“I have seen patients with the same symptoms as the embassy employees regularly in my dizziness clinic at UCLA.
“Most have psychosomatic symptoms – meaning the symptoms are real but arise from stress or emotional causes, not external ones. With a little reassurance and some treatments to lessen their symptoms, they get better.
“The available data on Havana syndrome matches closely with mass psychogenic illness – more commonly known as mass hysteria.” While Dr Baloh isn’t the first to suggest that Havana Syndrome is little more than a figment of sufferers’ imaginations, he has provided the most commentary on the issue.
Mass psychogenic illness occurs when members of a group feel sick because they believe they’ve been exposed to something dangerous, even though there’s no actual exposure, he said.
“For example, as telephones became widely available at the turn of the 20th century, numerous telephone operators became sick with concussion-like symptoms attributed to ‘acoustic shock’. But despite decades of reports, no research has ever confirmed the existence of acoustic shock.” This kind of mass psychogenic illness is behind Havana Syndrome, Dr Baloh believes – not a weapon.
“Mass psychogenic illness typically begins in a stressful environment. Sometimes it starts when an individual with an unrelated illness believes something mysterious caused their symptoms. “This person then spreads the idea to the people around them and even to other groups, and it is often amplified by overzealous health workers and the mass media.”
Have you heard of the Havana Syndrome? Have you ever had suspicious symptoms that did not appear to be a disease? Tell us about it.
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