Havana syndrome
noun · first attested 2010s
The name stuck to the illness even after cases turned up on four continents.
A set of symptoms including vertigo, nausea, headaches, and ear pressure reported by diplomats and intelligence officers abroad, with a disputed cause.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 2010s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Havana
- In English
Havana syndrome
United States embassy staff in Havana began reporting the symptoms in late 2016, and the label followed. Later clusters were reported from China, Russia, Austria, Colombia, and Washington itself, so the name now points at the first cases rather than at anything Cuban. A 2023 assessment by United States intelligence agencies concluded that a foreign weapon was very unlikely to be responsible.