A brand new study by the National Institutes of Health found no evidence of brain damage in scans or blood tests of diplomats and spies who developed symptoms of Havana syndrome, confirming the conclusions of U.S. intelligence agencies about these strange health incidents.
Spy agencies have concluded that the debilitating symptoms related to Havana syndrome, including dizziness and migraines, are usually not the work of a hostile foreign power. The weapon or device that caused the injuries has not been identified, and intelligence analysts currently consider the symptoms are probably explained by environmental aspects, existing medical conditions or stress.
The lead researcher of one of the 2 latest studies said that although the study was not intended to seek out a cause, its findings were consistent with findings.
The authors said the study contradicted the findings of researchers on the University of Pennsylvania, who found differences in brain scans of individuals with symptoms of Havana syndrome and a control group.
Dr. David Relman, a distinguished scientist who had access to secret files on cases and representatives of individuals with Havana syndrome, said the brand new research was flawed. Many brain injuries are difficult to detect with scans or blood markers, he added. He added that the findings don’t dispute the undeniable fact that an external force, reminiscent of a directed energy device, could have injured current and former government employees.
The study was published Monday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, together with an editorial by Dr. Relman that was critical of the outcomes.
Incidents began to occur in greater numbers in late 2016 and in 2017 in Havana and later in China, Austria and elsewhere. The Biden administration took office in 2021 promising to enhance health take care of diplomats and spies affected by symptoms and get to the underside of their causes.
Research conducted on the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2019 suggested that folks affected by the syndrome had possible brain injuries that were different from typical brain injuries or other brain injuries.
The NIH study checked out a unique group of people, with lower than a 3rd of the cases overlapping. Dr. Leighton Chan, acting scientific director of the NIH Clinical Center and lead creator of one of the studies, said that of the 86 participants, 24 cases were from Cuba, six from China, 17 from Vienna, nine from around the globe. United States and 30 from other locations.
Examining the brain scans, scientists found no significant differences in comparison with the control group.
During a press conference discussing the outcomes ahead of their publication, NIH scientists said their scans taken in research settings were more accurate than scans performed primarily in clinical settings in earlier studies. They also found that the control group was higher matched to review participants, which improved the rigor of the study.
University of Pennsylvania researchers said the 2 studies were an “apples to oranges” comparison because they involved different patient groups and the NIH study was not intended to duplicate their research.
NIH researchers said they did not diagnose patients with brain injuries or concussions. Instead, the diagnoses they make, all so-calledfunctional neurological disorders” are sometimes attributable to stress.
The research didn’t rule out a possible external cause of the symptoms of Havana syndrome. But if someone wasn’t involved, Dr. Chan said, stress “may explain more of our findings.”
“It is important to remember that for people with functional neurological disorders of any cause, the symptoms are real, distressing, and very difficult to treat,” Dr. Chan said.
The NIH diagnosis angered several individuals with symptoms of Havana syndrome, who said it was offensive and mistaken since it was tantamount to calling their symptoms psychosomatic or the result of mass hysteria.
Dr. Relman, who was among the many leaders of a panel of experts convened by intelligence agencies and one other by the National Academy of Sciences, said the work of those groups showed that the symptoms in some affected government staff couldn’t have been caused solely by stress or psychosocial aspects.
The NIH study checked out a big group of individuals who reported a range of symptoms, reasonably than focusing on cases abroad where additional evidence suggests something strange can have been going on, Dr. Relman said. In such cases, a retractable device capable of delivering targeted energy in a targeted manner can have been responsible.
“Putting all these cases into one bag is just asking for trouble,” Dr. Relman said.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer for several individuals with symptoms of Havana syndrome, said many current and former officials treated at NIH were unhappy that they weren’t informed in regards to the study before its publication. Zaid said some patients were told that they had to participate within the study to receive treatment from the federal government for his or her symptoms. Zaid said this raised ethical questions on patient consent.
Dr. Chan denied this and stated that the people participating within the study did so voluntarily and will leave the study at any time.
Zaid, nonetheless, expressed concern that the CIA and other intelligence agencies would misuse the study to support their findings that they were unable to find out an external cause for Havana syndrome cases.
“The concern is that the intelligence community is going to weaponize this study to show that lack of evidence is evidence,” Zaid said. “And that’s not the case.”
