Patrik Dahlin

Ramon Espinosa / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Havannasyndromet

Sebastian Hagberg

J. Scott Applewhite / Ap

Havana syndrome is a set of medical symptoms with unknown causes experienced mostly abroad by U.S. government officials and military personnel. The symptoms range in severity from pain and ringing in the ears to cognitive difficulties and were first reported in 2016 by U.S. and Canadian embassy staff in Havana, Cuba. Beginning in 2017, more people, including U.S. intelligence and military personnel and their families, reported having these symptoms in other places, such as China, Europe, and Washington, D.C.The U.S. Department of State has referred to the events as "unexplained health incidents", while Central Intelligence Agency director William Burns has publicly called them attacks. A 2019 retrospective neuroimaging study of 40 affected diplomats in Cuba published in the medical journal JAMA found evidence that the diplomats had significant brain neuroimaging differences compared to healthy control group members, but it was not able to determine the cause of the observed differences and states that "the clinical importance of these differences is uncertain and may require further study". While there is no expert consensus on the syndrome's cause, an expert committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in December 2020 that microwave energy (specifically, directed pulsed RF energy) "appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered" but that "each possible cause remains speculative". Other potential causes or contributing factors of the symptoms that have been proposed have included ultrasound, pesticides, or mass psychogenic illness.The U.S. intelligence services have not reached a consensus on or a formal determination of the cause of the Havana syndrome, though U.S. intelligence and government officials have expressed suspicions to the press that Russian military intelligence is responsible.

Havana syndrome

Mattias Sävenstrand

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Kia Partner

Desmond Boylan / AP

Anders Hovne

Desmond Boylan / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

David Goldman / TT / NTB Scanpix

Ward Wines

Louise Cassemar

Evelyn Hockstein / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Michael Sohn / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Ronald Zak / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Havana syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms reported by United States and Canadian embassy staff in Cuba dating back to late 2016 as well as subsequently in some other countries, including the United States.In 2017, Donald Trump accused Cuba of perpetrating unspecified attacks causing these symptoms. The U.S. reduced staff at their embassy to a minimum in response. In 2018, U.S. diplomats in China reported problems similar to those reported in Cuba, as did undercover CIA agents working in other countries with partner agencies to counter Russian covert operations.Subsequent studies of the affected diplomats in Cuba, published in the journal JAMA in 2018, found evidence that the diplomats experienced some form of brain injury, but did not determine the cause of the injuries. While there is no expert consensus on the cause of the symptoms, a co-author of the JAMA study considered microwave weapons to be "a main suspect" for the phenomenon. U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine expert committee concluded in December 2020 that microwave energy (specifically, directed pulsed RF energy) "appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered" but that "each possible cause remains speculative." The U.S. intelligence services have not reached a consensus or formal determination on the cause of the Havana syndrome, but unnamed sources in intelligence and two presidential administrations have expressed suspicions to the press that Russian military intelligence is responsible.

Simployer

Simployer Partner

Elina Haimi

Evan Vucci / TT NYHETSBYRÅN

Havana syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms reported by United States and Canadian embassy staff in Cuba dating back to late 2016 as well as subsequently in some other countries, including the United States.In 2017, President Donald Trump accused Cuba of perpetrating unspecified attacks causing these symptoms. The U.S. reduced staff at their embassy to a minimum in response. In 2018, U.S. diplomats in China reported problems similar to those reported in Cuba, as well as undercover CIA agents operating in other countries who were negotiating with those countries on ways to counter Russia′s covert operations around the world.Subsequent studies of the affected diplomats in Cuba, published in the journal JAMA in 2018, found evidence that the diplomats experienced some form of brain injury, but did not determine the cause of the injuries. While there is no expert consensus on the cause of the symptoms, a co-author of the JAMA study considered microwave weapons to be "a main suspect" for the phenomenon. A U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine expert committee concluded in December 2019 that microwave energy (specifically, directed pulsed RF energy) "appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered" but that "each possible cause remains speculative."



Tomas Medin Westman

Havannasyndromet

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