WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is still investigating what caused dozens of U.S. government employees in China and Cuba to become mysteriously ill, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, and rejected accusations that Washington did not protect its employees for wider political objectives.
Starting in 2017, dozens of staff in Cuba reported symptoms that included hearing loss, ringing in their ears, vertigo, headaches and fatigue, a pattern consistent with mild traumatic brain injury and initially described as the result of “sonic” or health attacks of some sort. Over 40 U.S. government employees were affected by the incidents, which came to be known as the “Havana syndrome.”
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
