The U.S. embassy in China was put on a health watch Wednesday as an embassy employee was subject to an “abnormal” auditory experience that led to them being diagnosed with a mild brain injury. The May 23 incident is said to be reminiscent of the “sonic attack” from the auditory sounds that caused the mysterious illness that plagued diplomats in Cuba last year.
Channel News Asia reports that an alert was also emailed to U.S. citizens living in China, but the embassy claims that they have not found the root cause of the auditory phenomena or have linked it to any other cases in the country. The embassy’s health alert says the government employee, “recently reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure.”
Embassy spokeswoman Jinnie Lee says that U.S. and Chinese authorities are investigating the matter after the employee, who was assigned to the southern city of Guangzhou, was diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury. “The (State) Department is taking this incident very seriously and is working to determine the cause and impact of the incident,” Lee said.
“We cannot at this time connect it with what happened in Havana but we are investigating all possibilities,” a U.S. embassy official stated.
In 2017, 24 diplomats and their family members had fallen victim to an unsolved mysterious attack in Cuba that left them with injuries resembling brain trauma. Moreover, 10 Canadian diplomats and their relatives also suffered a strange illness.
The symptoms stemming from the auditory illness included dizziness, headaches, and a lack of ability to concentrate.
After the incident, U.S. and Canadian authorities had suspected a “sonic attack” or evidence of a “mass psychosomatic incident,” but those allegations are “now considered unlikely,” according to a senior Canadian official
The U.S. government has held Cuba responsible for the incident, arguing that Raul Castro’s regime must have either carried out the assaults or provided support to whomever initiated them. The incident prompted the U.S. to withdraw more than half of its personnel at the embassy in Havana.
