East Township public health officials have launched an investigation into cases of Lou Gehrig's disease in the area after a Windsor, Que., woman alerted them that about 20 residents had the disorder.
The Estrie Integrated University Center for Health and Social Services, The regional health board said in an email on Wednesday that it is working to verify whether the proportion of people affected by the disease in the area is related or not. That process can take weeks.
“At this stage, it is too early to make any assumptions,” the health board said in an unsigned email. “We want to take a broader view to evaluate different potential sources.”
The The Montreal Journal First reported in story.
If controllable environmental factors are identified as triggers, Public Health will look to conduct another, more complex study that could take several years, the emailed statement said.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that causes loss of muscle control.
Windsor, Que., resident Julie DuBois said her husband, Marco Brindle, died of ALS last January.
Through word of mouth, he learned of 18 people with the disease in Windsor and the surrounding area.
“That's when I said, 'That's enough!'” DuBois said. “When I pulled out the data I had, it didn't take half an hour for public health to call me back.”
Director of the ALS program at the Montreal Neurological Institute and professor at McGill University, Dr. Angela Gange will act as a consultant on the investigation.
A person can inherit ALS through a mutated gene, but it can also develop in someone with no family history of the disease.
While there are no clear factors for developing ALS, the case is considered sporadic — all 18 people referred to public health officials appear to have the Dubois type, Gange said.
He noted that although studies have found that professional American football players and people in the U.S. military have an increased risk of developing ALS, the exposures that trigger the disease in them are still unknown.
“In none of these we know what part of their exposure, whether it was physical contact or whether they were exposed to pesticides or some other chemicals that could trigger ALS,” Gange said, referring to athletes and veterans with the disease. .
Claudine Cook, executive director of the ALS Society of Quebec, said more research is needed into the deadly disease.
“The only way more research is going to happen is if we have more funding,” Cook said.
“Until there is a cure, until there is an effective long-term treatment to prevent ALS, ALS Quebec is there to support families at every stage of the disease.”
Files from Sarah-Kate Dallaire and Radio-Canada's Brigitte Marcoux, Emily Richard and Guillaume Renaud, prepared by Holly Cabrera
