Exacerbation of demyelinating syndrome after exposure to wireless modem with public hotspot

ABSTRACT

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.

KEYWORDS:

• Beacon signal
• electrohypersensitivity
• hotspot
• myelin
• neurodegenerative disease
• radiofrequency exposure
• strobe effect
• WiFi

Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to JS for her willingness to speak frankly about her experiences. Our acknowledgment and thanks to her primary care doctor, Randolph James, MD, for his kind assistance in checking and verifying that the medical details of this case study have been reported accurately. We much appreciate and have incorporated some of the helpful referee comments regarding the hotspot beacon signal. Mr Brian Stein, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, UK, the Irish Campaign Against Microwave Pollution, and the Irish Doctors Environmental Association (IDEA; Cumann Comhshaoil Dhoctúirí na hÉireann) are gratefully acknowledged for their general support.

Funding

Mary Redmayne is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence on Health Effects of Electromagnetic Energy. Olle Johansson is supported by the Karolinska Institute and a grant from Mr. Einar Rasmussen, Kristiansand S., Norway.

Declaration of interest

The study had no other involvement from these or other companies.

The authors have had no writing/editorial assistance in preparing the paper, although confirmation was sought from JS and her doctor regarding the accuracy of the details of the reporting and minor amendments made accordingly. Mary Redmayne is a member of the Stds. Australia technical committee TE-007.

Notes

^1. Cornet ED 78S meter, margin of error +/−3.5 dBm.

Additional information

Funding

Mary Redmayne is supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council Centre for Research Excellence on Health Effects of Electromagnetic Energy. Olle Johansson is supported by the Karolinska Institute and a grant from Mr. Einar Rasmussen, Kristiansand S., Norway.