Interesting. The symptoms they list are entirely typical of FND, which accounts more than 1 in 7 referrals to a neurology department and is at least as common as MS [1]. They list 48 active cases, but there would presumably be a lot more FND cases than that in NB. Also, it seems they only uncovered this new syndrome when they actively started looking for them via the Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Surveillance System. Could it just be that many doctors and neurologists are unaware of FND, even though it is by far the most common neurological disorder they see?
[1] http://www.rcpe.ac.uk/journal/issue/journal_41_1/stone.pdf