FREDERICTON -- Health officials in New Brunswick say they have identified three more cases of a mysterious neurological syndrome in the province.

Health Department spokesman Bruce Macfarlane says the province is analyzing 47 cases of the unknown brain disease: 37 are confirmed and 10 are suspect. There have been six deaths.

He says most of the patients at the time of their referrals were living around the Moncton area and the Acadian Peninsula.

Symptoms include rapidly progressing dementia, muscle spasms, atrophy and a host of other complications.

Macfarlane says the investigation team is exploring all potential causes including food, environmental and animal exposures.

Families of people hit with the illness are calling for more information about the disease, and Macfarlane says a website about the syndrome is in the finishing stages and will be launched in the coming days.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 27, 2021.