Around the lake, the incidence of sporadic ALS—cases for which genetics are not a likely cause—is approximately 10 to 25 times the expected rate for a town of that size.
“We had no idea why there appeared to be a cluster around the lake,” Stommel said.
Based on the link between ALS and the neurotoxin in other parts of the world, Stommel and his colleagues hypothesize that the lake’s cyanobacteria blooms could be a factor.
Across northern New England, the researchers have continued to identify ALS hot spots—a large one in Vermont near Lake Champlain and a smattering of smaller ones among coastal communities in New Hampshire and Maine.
Earlier this year, the researchers reported that poorer lake water quality increased the odds of living in a hot spot. Most strikingly, they discovered that living within 18 miles of a lake with high levels of dissolved nitrogen—a pollutant from fertilizer and sewage that feeds algae and cyanobacteria blooms—raised the odds of belonging to an ALS hot spot by 167 percent.
The findings, they wrote, “support the hypothesis that sporadic ALS can be triggered by environmental lake quality and lake conditions that promote harmful algal blooms and increases in cyanobacteria.”
“We had no idea why there appeared to be a cluster around the lake,” Stommel said.
Based on the link between ALS and the neurotoxin in other parts of the world, Stommel and his colleagues hypothesize that the lake’s cyanobacteria blooms could be a factor.
Across northern New England, the researchers have continued to identify ALS hot spots—a large one in Vermont near Lake Champlain and a smattering of smaller ones among coastal communities in New Hampshire and Maine.
Earlier this year, the researchers reported that poorer lake water quality increased the odds of living in a hot spot. Most strikingly, they discovered that living within 18 miles of a lake with high levels of dissolved nitrogen—a pollutant from fertilizer and sewage that feeds algae and cyanobacteria blooms—raised the odds of belonging to an ALS hot spot by 167 percent.
The findings, they wrote, “support the hypothesis that sporadic ALS can be triggered by environmental lake quality and lake conditions that promote harmful algal blooms and increases in cyanobacteria.”
Comment