He wrote:
Thank you for tagging us and bringing this to our attention. Firstly, we need you to appreciate the following:
1. We have not examined the affected persons.
2. Our commentary is based solely on the video circulating on social media.
Kindly note the limitations we are faced with.
To begin with, in a situation like this one the most important thing is to get a diagnosis and to do so history taking, examination and investigations (tests) need to be done. Here we will endeavour to share the approach and thought process that the doctors will take.
Looking at the videos it is obvious to note that the victims have a disorder of balance and movement. The body part responsible for balance is a part of the brain called the cerebellum and it’s connections. Unusually when this part of the brain is affected people present with loss of coordination and balance of legs, slurred speech, uncontrolled eye movement, difficulties eating, vocal changes to mention the main features. The medical term for this is ataxia (cerebellar Ataxia). From that video one would be forgiven for making an affectation to the cerebellum a top priority in their approach to this case.
Having identified the most likely part of the brain that could be affected the next task the attending doctors will do is to find the disease process or the cause of the damage. In this regard there are a few considerations. The doctors will first ask themselves if this is an infectious or a non infectious process. Usually from history and examination a distinction can be made and if it is not obvious they will rely on the results of the tests. Because the disease is affecting several individuals in a specific geolocation here are some of the common causes that they will be thinking about:
1. Infections, commonly viral infections (chicken pox, mumps, measles, hepatitis A etc.) and some bacterial infections.
2. Exposure to heavy metals (mercury, lead etc)
3. Nutritional deficiencies (vitamin B12, vitamin B1 and Vitamin E)
4. Poisoning (illicit alcoholic drinks)
5. Mass hysteria (a mental illness that manifests as a physical disease that affects a group of people due to group anxiety. Very common in boarding schools)
We have said all this to say the following:
1. Take this case off social media and allow the doctors to come back to us with a diagnosis. No one knows if this is treatable, or if it is dangerous until we have a diagnosis.
2. We expect that the ministry of health will constitute a team of doctors to look into the case. The team will most likely include the following: a physician, a neurologist, an infectious disease specialist, a pathologist and a psychiatrist.
In conclusion: for the sake of the affected victims and their relatives let us avoid speculating and allow the Ministry of Health to take the lead on this matter. As for this page we will wait patiently for the diagnosis and as soon as we get full information we will go into details to explain it as we do any other disease