An American man developed an “uncontrollable Irish accent” after being diagnosed with prostate cancer even though he had never visited Ireland, researchers said. It turned out to be a rare syndrome.
The man from the US state of North Carolina, who was in his 50s, was believed to be affected by the ‘Foreign Accent Syndrome’ (FAS), reports the British Medical Journal. The rare syndrome gave the man, who had no immediate family from Ireland, a tongue that lasted until his death, writes BBC.
Foreign Accent Syndrome
But the American man is not the only one with this syndrome. Several similar cases have been registered worldwide in recent years. This case was jointly studied and reported by Duke University in North Carolina and the Carolina Urologic Research Center in South Carolina.
“To our knowledge, this is the first case of FAS described in a patient with prostate cancer and the third case described in a patient with a malignant tumor,” said the report’s authors. Many of the man’s identifying features, including his name, were not disclosed in the report.
‘Uncontrollable, present and persistent’
According to the report, he lived in England in his twenties and had friends and distant relatives from Ireland. But it is added that he had never spoken with a foreign accent like Irish before. “His accent was uncontrollable, ever present, and gradually became persistent,” say the researchers in their report. They add that the accent first appeared 20 months after his treatment.
Even as his condition worsened, the accent remained until the man’s death months later. “He had no neurological examination abnormalities or psychiatric history at the onset of symptoms,” it said rapport.
‘Like a stranger in the house’
Other people who have suffered from FAS have faced the BBC described the unsettling feeling of hearing a “stranger in the house” when they speak. For example, in 2006, Britain’s Linda Walker suffered a stroke and discovered that her Geordie accent had been replaced by a Jamaican-sounding voice.
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Rare syndrome: American cancer patient developed ‘uncontrollable’ Irish accent