First Cuba, now China? American falls ill after ‘abnormal’ sounds
BEIJING — A U.S. government employee posted in southern China has signs of possible brain injury after reporting disturbing sounds and sensations, the State Department said Wednesday, in events that seemed to draw parallels with mysterious ailments that struck U.S. diplomats in Cuba.
The State Department warning, issued through the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, in southern China, advised U.S. citizens in China to seek medical help if they felt similar symptoms. But it said that no other cases had been reported.
“A U.S. government employee in China recently reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure,” the health alert said. “We do not currently know what caused the reported symptoms and we are not aware of any similar situations in China, either inside or outside of the diplomatic community.”
The employee was working in Guangzhou and “reported experiencing a variety of physical symptoms” from late 2017 until April, Jinnie Lee, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, said in an emailed response to questions.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that medical teams were heading to Guangzhou to address the issue.
“The medical indications are very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba,” he said.
The embassy was told Friday “that the clinical findings of this evaluation matched mild traumatic brain injury,” according to Lee, who said she could not reveal any more details to protect the employee’s privacy. Mild traumatic brain injury can show up as headache, dizziness, nausea, poor memory and a general foggy sensation.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately answer questions about the ill American, but Pompeo said the Trump administration had asked the Chinese government for assistance in an investigation, “and they have committed to honoring their commitments under the Vienna convention.”