International Medical Mystery Deepens As More American Diplomats Are Evacuated From China
The medical mystery started in 2016, when American Embassy employees and their family members began falling ill in Havana, Cuba. In all, 24 of them were stricken with headaches, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive issues and other symptoms after saying they heard odd sounds. Now, officials are seeing the same signs in diplomats who were stationed in China.
A U.S. medical team was screening more Americans who work in a southern Chinese city as the State Department confirmed evacuating a number of government workers who experienced unexplained health issues like those that have hurt U.S. personnel in Cuba and China. The evacuations of the workers in Guangzhou followed medical testing that revealed they might have been affected. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said "a number of individuals" have been brought to the U.S. but didn't say how many were affected or evacuated. One case in Guangzhou had been disclosed last month. (Chan and Kang, 6/7)
For months, American officials have been worried that their diplomats have been subjected to targeted attacks involving odd sounds, leading to symptoms similar to those 鈥渇ollowing concussion or minor traumatic brain injury,鈥 the State Department says. The cases in China have broadened a medical mystery that started in 2016, when American Embassy employees and their family members began falling ill in Havana. In all, 24 of them were stricken with headaches, nausea, hearing loss, cognitive issues and other symptoms after saying they heard odd sounds. The issue has roiled relations with Cuba, which immediately fell under suspicion, and led the United States to expel Cuban diplomats. (Myers and Perlez, 6/6)
A Chinese government investigation has shed no light on why a U.S. diplomat fell ill at the consulate in Guangzhou after hearing mysterious sounds, an official said Thursday. On Wednesday, the State Department said it was evacuating several more Americans from Guangzhou for further health screenings. That follows the initial evacuation of a government employee, who had reported hearing strange noises in his apartment and exhibiting symptoms of brain injury.聽(Denyer and Morello, 6/7)
Researchers have hazarded several theories for what happened in Havana. One team at the University of Michigan said in March that the symptoms may have been the result, not of a deliberate attack, but of sound distortion caused by ultrasonic surveillance devices placed too close together. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that he planned to set up a Heath Incidents Response Task Force to respond to unexplained health problems affecting U.S. diplomats and their family members living abroad. (Chin, 6/7)
