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Le Roy and Corinth, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in at least 22 people

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  • #61
    Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School

    The cases are reported of 13 children seen over a 22 month period who presented with a variety of acute neurological illnesses associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. Although presentation with a decreased level of consciousness or seizures was common, psychosis, hemiparesis, cranial nerve palsies, and Guillain-Barré syndrome were also seen. In contrast with published reports, only one child had an associated chest infection. Although some children have been left with residual disability, most have made a complete recovery. In this recent experience, M pneumoniae is a not rare cause of neurological illness in childhood and may present in unusual ways.

    Archives of Disease in Childhood 1993; 69: 573-576
    Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection and neurological
    disease

    Abstract
    The cases are reported of 13 children seen
    over a 22 month period who presented
    with a variety of acute neurological illnesses
    associated with Mycoplasma
    pneumoniae infection. Although presentation
    with a decreased level of consciousness
    or seizures was common, psychosis,
    hemiparesis, cranial nerve palsies, and
    Guillain-Barre syndrome were also seen.
    In contrast with published reports, only
    one child had an associated chest infection.
    Although some children have been
    left with residual disability, most have
    made a complete recovery. In this recent
    experience, M pneumoniae is a not rare
    cause of neurological illness in childhood
    and may present in unusual ways.
    (Arch Dis Child 1993; 69: 573-576)
    /../

    FOCAL NEUROLOGY
    Three patients had focal neurological signs as
    part of their illness. In patient 1, the onset of
    left facial weakness and left hemiparesis was
    abrupt and recovery slow. Brain imaging was
    normal. In patient 5, recovery was characterised
    by a marked extrapyramidal syndrome
    with a festinant gait. Patient 12 presented with
    tremor and unsteadiness on the right side.

    Comment


    • #62
      Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School



      Review Article
      Pathogenesis of Neurologic Manifestations of Mycoplasma pneumoniae Infection
      Mitsuo Narita, MD

      2 tourettes p 162
      Psychologic disorders have sporadically been reported in
      connection with M. pneumoniae infection. The genome of
      M. pneumoniae has been detected in cerebrospinal fluid
      from two patients with Tourette?s syndrome [52], which
      suggests that a direct-type mechanism, possibly leading to
      local vascular injury, underlies the disease of these patients.
      An immune-mediated pathomechanism leading to vasculopathy
      has been postulated for Kluver-Bucy syndrome

      Comment


      • #63
        Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School

        Two Saratoga County girls also have Tourette-like symptoms

        This is a story about the (2) Corinth cases that have already been reported here. But there is one critically important piece of additional information about these cases that was in this article

        Meantime Nicholson is waiting to be seen by a neurologist. She's had different symptoms, including joint pain.
        Also, important I believe is the Endocarditis symptoms that some of these children have presented.

        http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/a...871e3ce6c.html

        This is important. Looking back to Anne's latest posts (By the way great information.) and the other half of the the William Byrd outbreak from my post above, we have an insight of what has already unfolded after this occurred in a community years ago.

        Renee Rhodes was the other half of the story that I had not included in my original post on the (10) cases from William Byrd High school -vinton,VA and the Roanoke area back in 2007.

        Renee died 2-1/2 years after the Tourettes/MRSA outbreak in her community.

        A snip from the article is below. Note the restaurant they refer to is in the same town as the (10) reported cases of Tourettes-Like symptoms. This is a close community of nearby towns. I'm not sure if the restaurant connection is of relevance or not. Although, the prognosis of some of these children that were invloved in the inital outbreak is.

        A Roanoke College student and clerk at a local fast-food restaurant died unexpectedly Friday afternoon of an unusual bacterial infection that caused her to develop meningitis. Renee Rhodes, a 21-year-old senior, complained Thursday night that her body ached, and Friday morning that she had diarrhea, said her mother, Diane Holland.

        Rhodes' family took her Friday morning to the doctor, who had her rushed to the emergency room of Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Holland said. "There were no warning signs before that," Holland said. "I don't think there could have been anything else that we could have done."

        The type of meningitis that Rhodes developed was caused by Neisseria meningitidis, a bacteria that is not highly contagious but that can be devastating, said Lex Gibson, a Virginia Department of Health epidemiologist.

        Rhodes had been a part-time clerk at the Bojangle's on Hardy Road in Vinton since 2006, her mother said. The Virginia Department of Health was working to make sure the people Rhodes may have been in close contact with are not sick, Gibson said.

        Rhodes graduated in 2007 from Staunton River High School and was studying in preparation to become a high school teacher, Holland said. She was a member of the track and field team, and she broke a Roanoke College record in January with a vault of 9 feet, 6 14 inches.
        The article about Renee Rhodes death is linked below.

        http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/252781

        The attached PDF contains the rest of my reasearch as of today with more information on Renee and it also includes references I found about Alisha Royal (track-cross country) who was initially effected during the Sept-October outbreak in the community.

        Note how even after a year, although still trying to compete, Alisha was still having issues with Black outs and was still seeking treatment.

        I haven't had a chance to do anymore digging on this to see if I could find any more references to outcomes from this 2007 outbreak.

        Note: You will need to copy and paste the source article links in the PDF file into your browser address window or they will not work. I apologize for the crude form this document is in. There is actually more information that I have. And also additional information that Emily has found that is not yet in the attached timeline. There was just too much information to post without using an attachment.
        Attached Files
        Last edited by Digger; January 25, 2012, 08:14 PM. Reason: Corrected Spelling - Apologize

        Comment


        • #64
          Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School

          The article (http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/a...871e3ce6c.html) in the above post is deeply troubling and not consistent with the facts presented, both elsewhere in this thread and even in the article itself.

          It points out that both Corinth cases attended the unidentifed restaurant in LeRoy in July, and suspects links of the illness to the restaurant. However, it misses the point (in its own article) that one of the girls was already ill in April/May, long before visiting the restaurant.

          It then tries to patch up this inconsistency by suggesting that she herself is the source of the illness for the 12 girls in LeRoy. If this illness were contagious enough that a brief meal in a LeRoy restaurant could infect 12 other girls in LeRoy (none of which we have any evidence ever ate at that restaurant or had contact with the Corinth girls), we would have a lot more cases by now. Don't forget, some of these girls went on the Today Show, and all have visited many doctors...

          It seems obvious that the restaurant (and the sports competition the Corinth girls were en route to) are red herrings, and if the local media continue to blame the restaurant, not only will they delay finding the true cause, they will ruin someone's business for no reason.

          Comment


          • #65
            Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School

            Another LeRoy student to appear on Today Show -15th Case is a Boy

            [Snip]

            Another LeRoy teenager will be on NBC's "TODAY Show" to talk about mysterious Tourette’s-like symptoms. This is the fifth student to speak out on national TV.

            The number of confirmed cases in LeRoy has risen to 15, and one of those patients confirmed to be a boy. Up until now, only girls have been exhibiting unexplainable tics and spasms. The Dent Neurological Institute in Buffalo has been treating the girls and diagnosed them with conversion disorder.

            A new doctor will be in LeRoy on Sunday to give a second opinion.

            [Snip]

            Read More: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2467269.shtml?cat=565

            Also,

            A little more information on the Lori Brownell case from Corinth. The video provides a few more details.

            http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2466463.shtml?cat=566

            Lori Brownell's detailed Video Diary mentioned in the WHEC article above is below. This is so sad. She provides many details of how her condition started. All the medications they have put her on over the course of this and provides feedback on the outcomes with each medication.

            Her YouTube diary is in the Link below. There are a series of 12-13 videos posted. Locate the 'Uploads' Button on the channel link and you can navigate back in time to the first video posted. I had to stop watching a few of these to say a prayer.

            http://www.youtube.com/user/rodeocow...ture=watch#p/u

            CDC. We need a hotline.
            Last edited by Digger; January 25, 2012, 08:13 PM. Reason: Added note about video diary order-Note about onset details

            Comment


            • #66
              Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

              Doctor: LeRoy Students With Rare Illness To Be Tested At NIH
              6:49 PM, Jan 25, 2012-Melissa Holmes-WGRZ reports,

              The number of LeRoy High School students exhibiting strange Tourette-like symptoms is growing.
              National Institutes of Health says it has reached out offer a second opinion.
              New York State Health Department confirms it has seen 15 cases from LeRoy High School- 14 girls, and now one boy.
              "those who choose to will have to travel to the NIH facilities in Bethesda, Maryland, and the travel and testing there will be free of charge."
              "there were patients that had possible Conversion Disorder we wanted to make the doctors aware that we're interested in making second opinions on these cases."
              The second opinion would include a physical examination and possible clinical neurophysiological testing, according to Dr. Haslett, so that doctors there can make their own (and we) can make our own diagnosis.
              The patients will have blood tested for two genes that are normally found in healthy individuals to see if they are found more frequently in patients with uncontrolled shaking. They'll also undergo a functional MRI to look at how the brain functions while the subject performs a specific task.
              Read and See More: http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/152...-Tested-At-NIH

              The NIH also is showing concern over the patients possibly receiving treatment for PANDAS.

              Comment


              • #67
                Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 12 students at Junior-Senior High School

                Anne,

                I got a chance to read some of the reseach you posted in post #61.

                The cases are reported of 13 children seen over a 22 month period who presented with a variety of acute neurological illnesses associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection. Although presentation with a decreased level of consciousness or seizures was common, psychosis, hemiparesis, cranial nerve palsies, and Guillain-Barré syndrome were also seen. In contrast with published reports, only one child had an associated chest infection. Although some children have been left with residual disability, most have made a complete recovery. In this recent experience, M pneumoniae is a not rare cause of neurological illness in childhood and may present in unusual ways.


                This is great information and I believe they will find it is very relevant to these cases.

                Comment


                • #68
                  Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                  Note: these cases may already have been reported here, but the news about Erin Brockovich sending a team to Le Roy is what caught my attention.

                  http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/genesee...-including-boy
                  Three new cases in LeRoy, including boy

                  Updated: Wednesday, 25 Jan 2012, 6:31 PM EST
                  Published : Wednesday, 25 Jan 2012, 5:43 PM EST

                  Ed Drantch
                  Posted by: Eli George

                  LeROY, N.Y. (WIVB) - A medical mystery in Genesee County appears to be growing and a famed environmental activist is stepping in...
                  There's an article posted here on the relationship of toxic chemicals to disease clusters:
                  http://www.flutrackers.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=180696
                  Last edited by Emily; January 25, 2012, 08:38 PM. Reason: Added link to disease cluster thread
                  _____________________________________________

                  Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                  i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                  "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                  (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                  Never forget Excalibur.

                  Comment


                  • #69
                    Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                    Emily,

                    If they are going the environmental route, I am sure this will come up. This was just published a few weeks ago.

                    http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...-birth-defects

                    According to the article linked above there were multiple substantial TCE releases in that area of LeRoy and upstate New York communities. Article states the TCE is a problem in groundwater and also in airborne vapor as it rises up from soils. TCE is heavier than water but evaporates easily. So after a contamination of soils. There is usually a prolonged period of soil vaporization. Especially a problem after heavy periods of rain. It appears some of the homes and buildings in the area required installation of special ventilation equipment to disperse the TCE vapors because of the high levels that were detected during testing. Although, it is not clear if that was also required or accomplished in the LeRoy area.

                    This fact sheet (attached in this post) does state the following:

                    How does TCE affect your health?
                    Breathing (Inhalation):
                    �� Breathing high levels of TCE may cause headaches, lung irritation, dizziness, poor coordination (clumsy) and difficulty concentrating.
                    �� Breathing very high levels of TCE for long periods may cause nerve, kidney and liver damage.Drinking (Ingestion):
                    �� Drinking high concentrations of TCE in the water for long periods may cause liver and kidney damage, harm immune system functions and damage fetal development in pregnant women (although the extent of some of these effects is not yet clear).
                    �� It is uncertain whether drinking low levels of TCE will lead to adverse health effects.

                    I believe that the ground area the school is built on was once a swampy area that was filled in prior to the school being built there. I do not know how that might effect the dispersion of the TCE that was spilled in the area.

                    TCE fact sheet attached. This is interesting. I hope though they continue to pursue the immediate problem these children are experiencing and not pull attention away from doing that.

                    I believe focusing on the mechanism of why these students are experiencing the neurological dysfunction is priority. It is important to identify and address a root cause but just as important to address the effects that cause has had on these children. I just hope these activities would continue in parallel with each other. Regardless of what the root cause might be.

                    There have also been some releases of TCE 20 miles from our town here in Indiana.
                    Attached Files
                    Last edited by Digger; January 26, 2012, 06:35 AM. Reason: Added note about ventilation of building basements

                    Comment


                    • #70
                      Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                      it seems pretty obvious that it is not hysterical conversion, but something neurological.
                      in hysteria , people can have extraordinary symptoms, but a great indifference to these symptoms.

                      Comment


                      • #71
                        Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                        Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/...4/1?csp=34news

                        Facial tics, verbal outbursts perplex community
                        By Sharon Jayson, and Elizabeth Weise
                        Updated 18m ago

                        Beth Miller says her 16-year-old daughter ? who is among the teens afflicted with facial tics and verbal outbursts in a mysterious outbreak in Le Roy, N.Y. ? was better for a while but is now "worse." And that's why Miller and others are hoping environmental activist Erin Brockovich can provide some answers that others haven't...

                        Comment


                        • #72
                          Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                          Tics and Toxins: Leroy School Site has History of Health, Water, Building Woes

                          "When we first started we couldn't go to gym class because the floor kept sinking and cracking," said the student, who attended the new LeRoy Junior/Senior High School in 2005, its first year of operation. She was one of several people who described the site as a "swamp."

                          One year, students had to start a week late because of flooding inside the building, she said.

                          Before the current school -- which goes from eighth to twelfth grades -- was built, the site was used for student playing fields; the school itself was at another location. The new building sits directly atop those playing fields.

                          In the 1970s, students using those fields suffered from open sores that would not heal and rashes, said the former student, whose mother also went there and recalled the incident. The soil was tested, the cause was found, the students were treated and recovered. She did not know what the tests had shown.

                          Read More: http://www.ageofautism.com/2012/01/t...ding-woes.html

                          One of the things I learned about TCE is that the vapor rises from the soil due to the low vapor pressure of TCE. Liguid TCE sinks below the soil after a spill because it is heavier that water but slowly permiates back up through the aquifer and then soil as it oxidizes. It can lie in pools at the bottom of the the aquifer for years. This is not only a problem in New York, it is a problem in many areas of the country.

                          TCE was also found by the EPA to be a big problem in the communities of Elkhart, Kokomo and Gary Indiana as TCE levels were found to be exceeding EPA standards.

                          Beth Miller, a mother of one of the afflicted LeRoy students, recently made a comment to the press stating that the engineer (sent in by Erin Brockovich) cannot do soil vapor testing in the area right away because the ground is frozen. This would indicate that during periods of ground freeze the soil is sealed off. Hence slowing or otherwise preventing a release of TCE vapors until the ground thaws and begins to warm again.

                          This is an interesting point because many if not all of these cases reported symptoms appearing from the May - early October. During the winter, northern lattitude soil freezes at various depths creating a frost line many inches deep into the soil. It will be interesting to see if ground freeze and thaw have any bearing on the amount of TCE vapors that are released during times of thaw and increased soil temperatures during the summer months.

                          Here is a link to the EPA website showing clean up sites that have been identified. Note these are only sites that have at one point in time been put on the clean up list.

                          http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/q...m/nplmapsg.htm

                          Comment


                          • #73
                            Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                            A Clearer View of TCE: Evidence Supports Autoimmune Link
                            Bob Weinhold -Environ Health Perspect. 2009 May

                            Substantial evidence from mechanistic, clinical, and epidemiologic studies indicates that exposure to TCE and/or its metabolites (including chloral hydrate, trichloracetic acid, trichloracetaldehyde hydrate, and dichloracetyl chloride) could influence the incidence of autoimmune disorders.
                            Studies of humans with high occupational or environmental exposures have also shown links between TCE and inflammatory immune responses, systemic sclerosis (scleroderma), and a severe generalized hypersensitivity skin disorder.
                            Read More: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2685868/

                            Comment


                            • #74
                              Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                              http://www.wgrz.com/news/article/152...lness-in-LeRoy
                              Steve Orr
                              Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle staff writer
                              Brockovich, Gibbs Looking into Mystery Illness in LeRoy
                              11:47 PM, Jan 26, 2012
                              [snip]
                              Five natural gas wells owned by the LeRoy school district ring the junior-senior high school building, which opened in 2003. The wells have undergone the controversial procedure known as hydraulic fracturing, state environmental officials said. About 25 western New York school districts own gas wells, though none have more active wells than LeRoy.
                              [snip]
                              Rumors persist that the school or ground sit atop rock and soil trucked in from a part of LeRoy still suffering the after-effects of a huge spill of the toxic solvent trichloroethylene in a 1970 train derailment.

                              LeRoy schools superintendent Kim Cox declined to answer questions about the gas wells or fill.....
                              And then there was the ton of cyanide crystals in that TCE spill, supposedly removed...but not good enough so "neutralizers" were spread on the ground according the the 1999 EPA report quoted in the USA Today article Shiloh found. Cyanide can cause neurological damage, too.

                              Then since the school was built on a swamp, you wonder about natural toxins.
                              Sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as an infectious disease: A possible role of cyanobacteria?

                              Also I wonder about the heavy spraying of swamps with insecticides since the emergence of West Nile virus in New York state.
                              New York Health Officials Plan to Carry Out Anti-Mosquito Spraying Activity
                              _____________________________________________

                              Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                              i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                              "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                              (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                              Never forget Excalibur.

                              Comment


                              • #75
                                Re: Le Roy, NY, USA: Unusual outbreak of Tourette-like symptoms in 15 students at Junior-Senior High School

                                In post #61, Anne shared information on mycoplasma and Dr. Trifiletti, the pediatric neurologist hired to investigate a possible autoimmune cause for the illnesses, brought this up in this Democratandchronicle.com article:


                                http://www.democratandchronicle.com/...WS01/120124003
                                NIH offers to do free tests on Le Roy teens with mysterious illness
                                7:42 AM, Jan. 24, 2012
                                Written by
                                Melissa Holmes
                                WGRZ-TV

                                [snip]
                                Instead of strep, Trifiletti says mycoplasma, or walking pneumonia, may be causing the Le Roy teens' illnesses. "We happen to be in an epidemic [of mycloplasma]. A lot of the times the kids won't have symptoms of walking pneumonia. Some of them may, but will get this instead," Dr. Trifiletti said by phone.
                                _____________________________________________

                                Ask Congress to Investigate COVID Origins and Government Response to Pandemic.

                                i love myself. the quietest. simplest. most powerful. revolution ever. ---- nayyirah waheed

                                "...there’s an obvious contest that’s happening between different sectors of the colonial ruling class in this country. And they would, if they could, lump us into their beef, their struggle." ---- Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Socialist Party

                                (My posts are not intended as advice or professional assessments of any kind.)
                                Never forget Excalibur.

                                Comment

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