Havana, the capital city of Cuba, has got a medical condition attached to its name, the Havana Syndrome. Although, yet to be approved as medical condition, this syndrome took the medical world by storm when it first occurred in 2016, where US officials were struck by this mysterious illness while working in Havana, Cuba. However, it seems like this syndrome has resurfaced last week, but this time in Germany, where US officials were found to develop symptoms. Keeping the news segment aside, let’s find out what Havana Syndrome is, the signs and symptoms of Havana Syndrome, and what causes it.
What is Havana Syndrome?
In between late 2016 to May 2018, approximately 25 officials in the US and the Canadian embassy in Havana, Cuba, started showing some bizarre set of medically confirmed symptoms. Most incidents were accompanied by an eerie sound. Recently similar kind of illness was reported amongst US officials working in Germany. History often rhymes, and mass psychosis has been reported throughout the centuries. Is Havana Syndrome psychogenic? Well, we will find out soon what Havana Syndrome is caused by, but before that let’s look into the signs and symptoms of Havana Syndrome
Symptoms of Havana Syndrome
Multiple signs and symptoms of Havana Syndrome have been reported by US officials who suffered from it. Some common ones include:
- Difficulty in concentrating
- Brain fog and memory loss
- Confusion and disorientation
- Headaches
- Sleep-related problems like drowsiness or insomnia
- Ear Ache, hearing loss, and tinnitus
- Visual problems like sensitivity to light and difficulty in reading (although no visual impairment was found on testing eyes)
- Trouble walking and dizziness
- Nausea
- Fatigue
The one thing that was in common is that almost all incidents were triggered by some eerie sound, especially in the middle of the night. Was some sound wave involved behind the cause? A sonic attack perhaps?
Cause of Havana Syndrome
As the people who suffered from Havana Syndrome were medically confirmed, scientists dived in to find out the cause of it. Several hypotheses were put forward. Some that were worth mentioning includes:
- Sonic Attacks: This was the first theory, where it was thought that sound waves were used from some kind of device to cause Havana Syndrome. However, that idea was rejected, as an Associated Press reported that a non-public FBI report didn’t find any evidence of an intentional Sonic Attack.
- Microwaves: A study published in the Neural Computation Journal also refuted the sonic attack hypothesis, but rather concluded that the symptoms were consistent with pulsed radiofrequency/microwave radiation (RF/MW) exposure. And as of now, this happens to be the most plausible cause.
- Psychogenic Origin: Many critics believe that Havana Syndrome represents mass hysteria, as even in history there were shreds of evidence of mass psychogenic illness as well. However, this theory fails to explain the brain injury found in several sufferers of Havana Syndrome.
So as of now, the microwave theory holds the stronghold as the cause of Havana Syndrome, however, a lot is yet to be uncovered about it. However, if Havana Syndrome has humans involved behind causing it, well that’s something to worry about.
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