State Department Issues Health Alert in China After Suspected Sonic Attack

State Department Issues Health Alert in China After Suspected Sonic Attack

First Cuba. Now China.

The State Department has issued a health alert for U.S. citizens in China after a U.S. employee, who worked in Guangzhou, suffered a brain injury after he “reported subtle and vague, but abnormal, sensations of sound and pressure.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this attack is consistent with those in Cuba. From CNN:

US officials have issued a health alert in China following the incident. Additionally, the US State Department is looking into whether the incident is similar to what happened in Cuba in 2016 and 2017, a US diplomatic official told CNN, which the US government characterized as a “sonic attack.” That incident led to a reduction in staffing at the US Embassy in Havana.

The official who fell ill was assigned to the city of Guangzhou in southern China and reported a range of physical symptoms from late 2017 through to April 2018, the State Department said. The employee was sent back to the United States for assessment.

The US Embassy in Beijing learned on May 18 that the clinical findings of the evaluation matched that of a “mild traumatic brain injury,” an embassy spokeswoman told CNN.

Pompeo said the State Department is moving medical teams into place in Guangzhou and has asked for assistance from the Chinese government, which has committed to providing it.

CNN has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs but has not yet received a response on this matter.

According to the alert issued by the US State Department on Wednesday, the cause of the injuries to the employee in China remains unknown, but officials were not aware of other similar symptoms among the diplomatic community in the country.

The spokeswoman at the US Embassy in Beijing told CNN the State Department was taking the incident “very seriously” and was working to determine the cause and impact of it.

“The Chinese government has assured us they are also investigating and taking appropriate measures,” the spokeswoman said.

[Featured image via YouTube]

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