New Brunswick government set to deliver final report on mystery brain disease – CTV
January 23, 2026
FREDERICTON — The New Brunswick government is expected to release its final report today on a mystery brain disease that has baffled experts for years.
Nearly 400 New Brunswick residents – mostly in the Acadian Peninsula and Moncton area – have reported symptoms of what the province has called a “neurological syndrome of unknown cause.”
First reported in 2021, the illness’s symptoms include memory problems, balance issues, behavioural changes, muscle spasms and bursts of intense pain.
In 2022, the health department said experts found no evidence that a cluster of cases existed following an investigation of 48 patients – 46 of them referred by a single neurologist: Dr. Alier Marrero.
The list of patients reporting symptoms later increased to 400, and Premier Susan Holt’s Liberals campaigned during the 2024 provincial election on a promise to reopen the investigation.
A study last year in the journal JAMA Neurology also found no evidence to support claims of a mystery illness, and suggested the media may have played a role in feeding the fears of patients.
