A US man developed an “uncontrollable Irish accent” after being diagnosed with prostate cancer, despite having never visited Ireland, researchers say.
The North Carolina man, who was in his 50s, was presumably afflicted with foreign accent syndrome (FAS), the British Medical Journal reports.
The rare syndrome gave the man, who had no immediate family from Ireland, a “brogue” that remained until his death.
It says he lived in England in his 20s and had friends and distant family members from Ireland. But they add he had never previously spoken with the foreign accent.
“His accent was uncontrollable, present in all settings and gradually became persistent,” the researchers say in their report, adding that it first began 20 months into his treatment.
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The researchers suspect the voice change was caused by a condition called paraneoplastic neurological disorder (PND).
PND happens when cancer patients’ immune systems attack parts of their brain, as well as muscles, nerves and spinal cord.
Other people who have suffered FAS have described to the BBC the unsettling feeling of hearing a “stranger in the house” whenever they speak.
