Infection with common Parasite raises Schizophrenia Risk

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Infection With Common Parasite Raises Schizophrenia Risk

 

 

Published: 01/24/08

THURSDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Infection with the common

Toxoplasma gondii parasite -- carried by cats and farm animals -- may

increase a person's risk of schizophrenia, a U.S. study suggests.

 

Publishing in the January issue of The American Journal of

Psychiatry, researchers from the Walter Reed Army Institute of

Research and Johns Hopkins Children's Center found that 7 percent of

the 180 schizophrenia patients in the study had been infected with

toxoplasma before their diagnosis, compared to 5 percent of 532

people without schizophrenia.

 

That means that those exposed to toxoplasma had a 24 percent greater

risk of developing schizophrenia. While this represents a small

increase in risk, it's important because it may offer new clues about

how the disease occurs in some of the 2 million cases of

schizophrenia in the United States, the study authors said. That may

help lead to new treatments.

 

" Our findings reveal the strongest association we've seen yet between

infection with this very common parasite and the subsequent

development of schizophrenia, " researcher Dr. Robert Yolken, a

neurovirologist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said in a

prepared statement.

 

Previous studies had found an association between schizophrenia and

the presence of toxoplasma antibodies, which are evidence of past

infection. This new study is the first to show that infection with

the parasite can precede the initial onset of schizophrenia symptoms

and subsequent diagnosis, Yolken said.

 

" Until now, the only thing we could say is that some people with

schizophrenia also had been infected with toxoplasma at some point,

but we couldn't tease out which came first, " he said. " With our

current study, we were able to show that infection came first. "

 

Yolken and his colleagues plan to study whether aggressive use of

antiparasitic drugs to treat toxoplasma infection in schizophrenia

patients can halt progression of the mental illness.

 

Most toxoplasma infections occur early in life through exposure to

cat feces or undercooked beef or pork. Infections rarely cause

symptoms, but the parasite remains in the body and can become active

after being dormant for many years, according to background

information in a news release about the study.

 

Most people infected with toxoplasma never develop schizophrenia, but

the parasite may trigger the mental illness in people who are

genetically predisposed to it, explained Yolken.

 

More information

 

Mental Health America has more about schizophrenia.