TY - JOUR
T1 - Exacerbation of demyelinating syndrome after exposure to wireless modem with public hotspot
AU - Johansson, Olle
AU - Redmayne, Mary
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - In August 2003, 48-year-old JS of Colorado, USA, a fitness therapist and sports nutritionist, contracted neuroinvasive West Nile virus which left her with disabilities due to spinal axonal damage.In August 2014, she suddenly developed symptoms very much like her acute West Nile infection 11 years ago, including focal seizures, ataxia, vertigo and headaches. Her blood count looked normal so there was no obvious infection. What struck her as odd was that when she left her apartment for any length of time, the symptoms stopped. She found out that a new type of wireless modem, enabled for both personal use and functioning as a public hotspot designed to reach up to 100 m, had been installed in the flat under hers.Her neighbor replaced the modem with a router without the hotspot feature. After that, the seizures stopped immediately, and the other symptoms faded gradually, after which she was fine and again could sleep well. Later, when another activated hotspot was installed in an adjacent flat, JS once again noticed symptoms.A possible association between electrohypersensitivity, myelin integrity and exposure to low-intensity radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) typical in the modern world has recently been proposed. Since the West Nile virus attacks both the nerve cells and the glial ones, one explanation to the above observed case effects is that the initial virus attack and the wireless modem’s RF-EMF affect the nervous system through the very same, or similar, avenues, and maybe both via the oligodendrocytes.
AB - In August 2003, 48-year-old JS of Colorado, USA, a fitness therapist and sports nutritionist, contracted neuroinvasive West Nile virus which left her with disabilities due to spinal axonal damage.In August 2014, she suddenly developed symptoms very much like her acute West Nile infection 11 years ago, including focal seizures, ataxia, vertigo and headaches. Her blood count looked normal so there was no obvious infection. What struck her as odd was that when she left her apartment for any length of time, the symptoms stopped. She found out that a new type of wireless modem, enabled for both personal use and functioning as a public hotspot designed to reach up to 100 m, had been installed in the flat under hers.Her neighbor replaced the modem with a router without the hotspot feature. After that, the seizures stopped immediately, and the other symptoms faded gradually, after which she was fine and again could sleep well. Later, when another activated hotspot was installed in an adjacent flat, JS once again noticed symptoms.A possible association between electrohypersensitivity, myelin integrity and exposure to low-intensity radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) typical in the modern world has recently been proposed. Since the West Nile virus attacks both the nerve cells and the glial ones, one explanation to the above observed case effects is that the initial virus attack and the wireless modem’s RF-EMF affect the nervous system through the very same, or similar, avenues, and maybe both via the oligodendrocytes.
KW - Beacon signal
KW - electrohypersensitivity
KW - hotspot
KW - myelin
KW - neurodegenerative disease
KW - radiofrequency exposure
KW - strobe effect
KW - WiFi
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976402668&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3109/15368378.2015.1107839
DO - 10.3109/15368378.2015.1107839
M3 - Article
C2 - 27355805
AN - SCOPUS:84976402668
VL - 35
SP - 393
EP - 397
JO - Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine
JF - Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine
SN - 1536-8378
IS - 4
ER -