Imaging tests unable to detect Cuban attacks on US tourist

An article recently published by the New York Times tells the story of how a trip taken to Cuba in April 2014 left a American tourist unable to feel his own body for over six months—an experience similar to that of more than 20 U.S. diplomats in the last year.  

Chris Allen, now 37-years-old, had checked into his hotel in Havana. During the first night, he immediately starting to feel a numbness spread over his entire body. Terrified, Allen immedately left the island, but the numbness followed him home. Whenever the South Carolina native would feel his numbness start to subside, it would return from nowhere.  

"When you have these vague symptoms, sometimes all you can do is prove what it's not," said George Durst, MD, Allen's primary care physician. "No one's smart enough to figure out what it was." 

Specialists performed nerve conduction tests, full blood workups, exams to check muscle function, a CT of Allen's head, an MRI of his spine and a sonogram of his heart, according to the Times. The six physicians Allen has seen since 2014 have considered infections, tumors, the temporarily paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome and poisoning from heavy metal contamination, but to this day, they have failed to pinpoint an exact diagnosis for the mysterious loss of feeling.

According to the article, along with an over year-long investigation conducted by the Associated Press that has looked into the cases of more than 20 U.S. diplomats who have experienced more of the same attack while visiting Cuba since 2016, "Allen's unexplained illness, which lingered for months and bewildered a half-dozen neurologists in the United States, bears no connection to whatever has harmed at least 22 American diplomats, intelligence agents and their spouses over the last year. But for Cuba and the U.S., it matters all the same."

Learn more about Allen's story and the mystery that has perplexed and effected a handful of U.S. diplomats, clinicians, and investigators here.