Last year, America removed its diplomats from Cuba after some reported mysteriously experiencing the symptoms of mild brain injury. This year, the same symptoms are being experienced by American diplomats and their families in Guangzhou, China: sleeplessness, headache, nausea, and memory recall issues. These are the same symptoms one feels, “following [a] concussion or minor traumatic brain injury.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notes that what has now being reported as occurring in China is, “very similar and entirely consistent with the medical indications that have taken place to Americans working in Cuba.” It both cases, there is no known culprit, though those in the State Department continue to say that it is likely to be caused by sonic attacks. Toxins and sounds emitted by listening devices, as well as simply mass hysteria, have also been mentioned as possible causes. (Twenty-five percent of those who reported brain injury in Cuba were found not to have it, based on medical tests following their return to America.) The U.S. government suspects that either Russia or China may be causing the attacks in China. The idea that Cubans could be generating the attacks is not thought in this incidence.
Are sound attacks the new means of warfare? The news examines this question, citing the known effects of infrasonic and ultrasonic sound. Infrasonic sound causes such effects as nausea and involuntary bowel evacuation. Ultrasonic sound can heat up the cells of the body and can cause cavitation, “when the pressure difference between a strong push and a strong pull in a very loud sound causes bubbles to form”. Generally, ultrasound sound is named as the culprit of the sonic attacks, however nausea, an effect of infrasound attacks, was reported by some. Another possibility is that ultrasonic attacks are an effect of eavesdropping, not the means of attack, as ultrasound is used is surveillance.
