Cause of Eight N.B. ‘Mystery’ Brain Disease Deaths Identified by Pathologist

A surgeon team uses a Loop-X live medical imagery system to secure the work on the spine of a patient affected by a metastatic breast cancer at the University-affiliated hospital (CHU) in Angers, western France on June 10, 2021. AFP via Getty Images/Loic Venance

FREDERICTON—A neuropathologist who examined the deaths of eight people in New Brunswick initially described as having a mysterious neurological disease says the deaths were actually due to known diseases.

A summary of the study led by Dr. Gerard Jansen of the University of Ottawa, posted this month on the Canadian Association of Neuropathologists website, says the original cases were “misclassified clinical diagnoses.”