Everything you need to know about the Havana Syndrome

A CIA officer, who travelled to India with CIA Director William Burns this month, reported symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome, a mysterious affliction that has struck US diplomats, spies and other government workers at home and abroad.

What is Havana syndrome?
The Havana syndrome is a set of medical signs and symptoms reported by US and Canadian embassy staff first in Havana, Cuba, dating to late 2016, and subsequently in other countries, including the US, Austria, Germany and India.


What are the symptoms?
1. Acute symptoms

• Loud sounds and pain in ears
• Tinnitus, hearing loss
• Intense pressure or vibration inside head
• Difficulty with memory or concentration
• Visual disturbances, nausea and unsteady gait, loss of balance, vertigo/dizziness

2. Chronic symptoms

• Headache
• Impaired concentration
• Memory loss
• Insomnia
• Depression
• Impaired balance

When was it first detected?
In 2016, many Canadians and Americans living in Havana complained of concussion-like symptoms, including headaches, dizziness, nausea and difficulty in concentrating. Some described hearing buzzing or high-pitched sounds before falling sick.

In 2018, US diplomats in China reported similar problems, as did undercover CIA agents working in other countries with partner agencies on missions aimed at countering Russian covert operations.

Last month, VP Kamala Harris was delayed for three hours as she was about to fly to Hanoi, Vietnam, after a US official in Vietnam reported Havana syndrome symptoms.

What do US intel agencies say?
The US intel services have not yet reached a consensus on a cause of the Havana syndrome, though unnamed sources have expressed suspicions to the press that Russian military intelligence is responsible.

What experts say
While there is no expert consensus on the exact cause, a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine expert committee concluded in December 2020 that microwave energy (especially directed radio frequency energy) “appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered" but that “each possible cause remains speculative.” The Biden administration has started calling them "unexplained health incidents" (UHIs).

With agency inputs