New studies find no evidence of brain damage in cases of Havana syndrome

New studies from the National Institutes of Health could find no evidence of brain damage in scans or blood markers of the diplomats and spies who suffered from Havana syndrome symptoms, reinforcing U.S. intelligence agencies’ conclusions about the strange health incidents.

Spy agencies have concluded that the debilitating symptoms associated with Havana syndrome, including dizziness and migraines, are not the work of a hostile foreign power. They have not identified a weapon or device that caused the injuries, and intelligence analysts now believe the symptoms are most likely explained by environmental factors, existing medical conditions, or stress.

The lead scientist of one of the two new studies said that while the study was not intended to find a cause, the findings were consistent with those findings.

The authors said the studies conflict with findings by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, who found differences in brain scans of people with symptoms of Havana syndrome and a control group.

Dr. David Relman, a leading scientist who has had access to secret files on the cases and representatives of people suffering from Havana syndrome, said the new studies were flawed. Many brain injuries are difficult to detect with scans or blood markers, he said. He added that the findings do not dispute that an external force, such as a directed energy device, could have harmed current and former government officials.

The studies were published Monday in The Journal of the American Medical Association, alongside an editorial by Dr. Relman that was critical of the findings.

The incidents began to occur in greater concentrations in late 2016 and into 2017 in Havana and later in China, Austria and elsewhere. The Biden administration took office in 2021 promising to improve health care for diplomats and spies suffering from the symptoms, and vowing to get to the bottom of what caused it.

Studies from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018 and 2019 suggested that people affected by the syndrome may have had brain injuries that differed from typical concussions or other traumatic brain injuries.

The NIH studies looked at a different group of people, with less than a third of cases overlapping. Dr. Leighton Chan, acting chief scientific officer at the NIH Clinical Center and lead author 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 world. United States and 30 from other locations.

When studying the brain scans, the researchers found no significant differences compared to the control group.

At a press conference discussing the results before they were made public, the NIH scientists said their scans, taken in a research setting, were more accurate than those produced mainly in clinical settings during previous studies. They also said the control group was more closely matched to the study participants, improving the accuracy of the study.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania said the two studies were “apples to oranges” comparisons because they looked at different groups of patients, and the NIH study was not intended to replicate theirs.

The NIH scientists said they had not diagnosed the patients with traumatic brain injury or concussion. The diagnoses they offered instead, all so-called “functional neurological disorders”, are often caused by stress.

The studies do not rule out a possible external cause for the symptoms of Havana syndrome. But if no one was involved, Dr. Chan said, stress “could explain more of our findings.”

“It is important to note that individuals with functional neurological disorders, regardless of the cause, have symptoms that are real, distressing and very difficult to treat,” said Dr. Chan.

The NIH diagnosis angered several people with symptoms of Havana syndrome, who said it was insulting and misleading because it amounted to calling their symptoms psychosomatic or the result of mass hysteria.

Dr. Relman, who was among the leaders of an expert panel set up by the intelligence community and another by the National Academy of Sciences, said the work of those groups had shown that the symptoms of some of the affected government workers could not be caused. only due to stress or psychosocial factors.

The NIH studies looked at a large group of people who reported a variety of symptoms, rather than focusing on cases abroad where additional evidence shows something strange was going on, said Dr. Relman. In those cases, a concealable device, which can deliver directed energy in a targeted manner, could be responsible.

“To lump all these cases together in the way they did is just asking for trouble,” said Dr. Relman.

Mark Zaid, an attorney for several people with symptoms of Havana syndrome, said many current and former officials treated at the NIH were angry because they were not told about the study before it came out. Mr Zaid said some patients were told they had to take part in the study to receive government treatment for their symptoms. Mr Zaid said this had raised ethical questions about patients’ consent.

Dr. Chan disputed that, saying the people who took part did so voluntarily and could have left the study at any time.

But Mr. Zaid said he feared the CIA and other intelligence agencies would inappropriately use the research to bolster their findings that they could not identify an external cause for cases of Havana syndrome.

“The concern is that the intelligence community is going to weaponize this study to show that the absence of evidence is evidence,” Mr. Zaid said. “And it isn’t.”