The evidence is mounting: mental illness might be caused by microbes.
Image: NIBSC/SPL/Photo Researchers, Inc. (influenza particles); mEHAU KULYK Photo Researchers, Inc. (face)
In Brief
Bugs and the Brain
- Mental illnesses once thought to be the result of neurological or psychological defects may be caused by viral or microbial infections.
- The strongest evidence links schizophrenia to prenatal influenza infection; pregnant women who become ill with the flu are more likely to give birth to children who will develop schizophrenia.
- The body’s immune reaction, rather than the infections themselves, may be to blame for the resulting brain damage and psychiatric symptoms.
- Understanding the relation between infections and psychiatric disorders may someday allow us to prevent mental illness using drugs or vaccines.
Schizophrenia is a devastating illness. One percent of the world’s population suffers from its symptoms of hallucinations, psychosis and impaired cognitive ability. The disease destroys relationships and renders many of its sufferers unable to hold down a job. What could cause such frightening damage to the brain? According to a growing body of research, the culprit is surprising: the flu.
If you are skeptical, you are not alone. Being condemned to a lifetime of harsh antipsychotic drugs seems a far cry from a runny nose and fever. And yet studies have repeatedly linked schizophrenia to prenatal infections with influenza virus and other microbes, showing that the children of mothers who suffer these infections during pregnancy are more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia later in life. In 2006 scientists at Columbia University asserted that up to one fifth of all schizophrenia cases are caused by prenatal infections.
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40 Comments
Add CommentI watched a neurosurgery documentary last night in which an inoperable brain lesion was caused by a tick bite so is it not just an obvious next step for brain-related conditions such as schizophrenia to have a possible microbial origin?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSchizophrenia is not a mental 'illness' but a growth crisis. See Stanislav Grof Spiritual Emergency: When spiritual Transformation Becomes a Crisis.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNature V. Nurture; Good V. Bad. These dichotomies have always annoyed me. It's great to see that, at least here, progress on the complexity of mental disease is being made. The picture here is truly complex. I have no doubts that infections or the immune response to them can cause mental disorders. Certainly, it isn't the only cause. Did my mother's smoking during pregnancy cause me to be bipolar? How about a probable T. gondii infection? These are certainly possible, but then we look at the extensive family history. We have anecdotal evidence of one of my Scottish ancestors from the 1600s showing signs of being bipolar. We know it's been in the family, in a direct line from me, back four generations. In my (our) case, it seems clear that the bipolar disorder is strictly genetic. What I'm saying here is, the picture is complex, even convoluted. Some become mentally ill from infections, either pre- or post-natal. Some, from genetics. Many from some combination of the two.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOf course microbes could cause mental illness! They are the reason the force exists too, you know.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are so many alternative causes for schizophrenia. There are big studies that are poiting out that food/nutrition is the major cause for schizophrenia. I believe it will be wise not to blame the brain any longer. There may very well be a deficit, but untill now there is no proof for it. Lets treat people as humans again. Use methods that work better then medication, like http://www.moshersoteria.com/
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe human mind is a complex structure, lets find ways to make better use of it instead of attacking/limiting the brain to suppress "problems" (seen in the eye of psychiatrists). What could count as a problem for one, could be beneficial for one other.
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Edited by Space Science at 04/17/2008 11:17 AM
Interesting findings, but not terribly surprising. After all, schizophrenia is a brain disease, with psychological symptoms. To compare it to insanity, which connotes more stictly psychological causes, is not quite correct but offers a catchy headline and a way to present the information like a bon-bon, a confection.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think schizophrenia could be regarded as a pattern of pathology with multiple causes, analogous to cirrhosis of the liver which also has genetic, infections toxic causes etc).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWe know there are genetic links (family studies, Spritzer's syndrome, Fragile X etc), toxins (amphetamines cannabis etc), well established infectious causes for schizophrenia-like psychoses (eg Syphilis, Lyme disease) and psychosis related to space occupying lesions like tumours.
The article states: What could cause such frightening damage to the brain? According to a growing body of research, the culprit is surprising: the flu.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBeing one who tends to fixate on thimerosal as a significant factor in the rising incidence of autism, my first thoughts when I began to read this article were that what the vaccine schedule has been doing to our brains is a lot more serious of a factor in mental illness than the infections a child or fetus might be exposed to. Its the immune response to the VACCINES that is of concern to me. The immune response to the infections, in my opinion, is a minor factor in comparison. And so, when I read
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention currently recommend that all pregnant women get flu shotsa dangerous proposition if immune response, rather than infection itself, is responsible for harming the fetal brain. I dont think they have considered this risk. In fact, I know they havent considered this risk, Patterson says, referring to the CDC. If you take it seriously and vaccinate everybody, then whats going to happen? ,
I was happy to see that someone out there is paying attention. Ive been very frightened in recent years when I think of what the current vaccine schedule has wrought. It scares me even more to think about what the administration of even more vaccines, to try to fix the problem, might do.
I certainly dont think that advising pregnant women to get flu shots, and advising mothers to have flu shots given to very young children, is helping matters. In fact, I am of the opinion that, given the evidence for harm to the immune system from vaccines thats been brought forth in recent years, the fact that the CDC now recommends flu vaccines (laden with dangerous levels of mercury and other toxins) for babies and pregnant women is nothing short of criminal.
Before more vaccines are given, lets see a studydone not by individuals within the CDC who promote, regulate and even profit from the sale of vaccines but by independent researcherscomparing the incidence of immune disorders in vaccinated versus unvaccinated individuals. There happens to be legislation for one, now, being stalled in congress. Its my belief that individuals with the CDC are terrified at the thought of such a study occurring.
thimerosal does not cause autism. it has been removed from vaccines, and autism continues to climb, even now that the children being diagnosed have never received a thimerosal injection. evidence has put this concern to rest among all but the ill-informed and the fearmongerers who feel they stand to benefit from continued panic.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisalso, "toxins" and "chemicals" are not universal words for "bad and harmful substances." using them as such betrays your lack of understanding. this article addresses what could very well turn out to be legitimate problems with current vaccination practices. further research is needed to figure out whether this is the case and how to correct it. thimerosal worries have been demonstrated to be groundless. (the poling case was a pragmatic legal decision with no grounding in science.)
I remember when stomach ulcers were caused by stress. People were blamed for their own conditions. It was thought that type "a" personalities were especially prone. Now it is know that is caused by a bactericia!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGreat article. I hope medicating early symptoms can really help protect the brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thischunkliketuna.blogspot.com
Chicken pox virus (herpes zoster) hang around hiding in the nervous system for decades and sometime re-emerge to cause Shingles, so this proposition that mental illness could be microbial based, either in cause or effect, certainly seems plausible to me.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs someone diagnosed with schizophrenia some years ago, I am pretty convinced that it is a mental illness that has (almost) entirely physical causes, which at least parts of this article imply.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUnfortunately, the reality is that the type of theories in this article attract almost negligible funding. The research goes into neurotransmitters, gene’s, etc, which would be great if anything useful had ever actually emerged from it.
I find the “mavericks†with the best new ideas are not working in schizophrenia, they seem to have graduated to autism.
I recently put some articles and documents I have come across on physical causes of mental illness on the Scribd document sharing website – I post them under the name Ex-sz if anyone is interested in this field:
[url http://www.scribd.com/people/view/519329-ex-sz][/url]
> “Schizophrenia is not a mental 'illness' but a growth crisis.â€
Stopped growing when I was about 18, unfortunately…
Is schizophrenia the last illness around where everyone likes to theorize on behalf of the “afflictedâ€, without perhaps ever bothering to speak to any of them? Over the years I have (apparently) been molested as a child, had some sort of sexual interest in my mother, been undergoing a bi-sexuality crises, etc, etc - the theories never end.
I never see these types of comments in relation to say an obviously physical illness like epilepsy. We just let the nonsense pass – really we should, like any other group would, be absolutely and vocally outraged via the media at some of these ideas…
the notion that schizophrenia and other "mental illnesses" have a microbial component makes at least as much sense as anything that has been suggested by psychiatrists, psychologists, and other "behavioral scientists" in the past 150 years.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe title and some of the content seems to shout amazing story is this the goal of SciAm? Perhaps SciAm needs to use a less cheap title, and keep away from stating non-evidence . An example of the latter is the opening statement: 5 and 8% more .. than average in children born in the winter or spring . This is statistically unsound, but it reminds me of a real study where a statistical correlation was found of Storks nesting in England versus babies born 9 months later, showing the dangers of stats. Another reference is if T. gondii antibodies is in a mothers blood, her child is 2.5 times more likely than other children to develop schizophrenia. Now this does looks important, but it is noted that it was One of his studies suggests , no details, no reference. However, to their credit SciAm at least, buried in the article, state There is no conclusive evidence , and encourages further studies.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy blame bacteria and type-A personalities when misogyny can lend such a great wealth of ideas? Remember how mothers used to be blamed for schizophrenia and autism and a host(ess) of other ills? Remember, for example, that Icon of Evil, the schizophrenic-genic mom? Ah...those were the days...!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSee wahela's comments:
http://thepsychopath.freeforums.org/it-s-not-like-there-s-a-sociopath-on-every-street-corner-t6220.html
schizophrenia is not due to an infection of brain because the brains of schizophrenics do not show inflammatory changes which should be present except in slow virus infections. It is not due to autoimmunity because immunosuppressant drugs do not help schizophrenics and schizophrenics who are grossly immunocompromised due to extensive radiation and chemotherapy do not show any improvement or deterioration.At best infection could add to neurodevelopmental insult which causes schizophrenia.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot directly causing mental illness, any foreign microbe isn't good for the immune system
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI recently got infected with some kind of white mold
(White mold is also dry rot)
For over a week I had a mild brain inflammation
The majority of the spores were in my right sinus cavity, swelled my right eye orbit purging itself through the eyelash folicles
Not treatable as an eye condition with an eye ointment or a topical ointment in the proximity to the eye
The difficult part was the pimple on the outer upper eyelash folicles
The brain inflammation can cause a mental state leading to behavorial modifications
I had a serious brain inflammation in relation to a series of arachnid bites in 2005
Arachnids carry staph which led to a third infection of impetigo
After three rounds of three different antibiotics I was still rapidly getting worse so I don't use antibiotics anymore
The best medicineis to fill my brains' receptors' with something less potent to avoid absorption
iceman
if schizophrenia has any genetic relationship then microb theory may bnot beapplicable. Else microb can be a possibility.could the damage be cured by medication?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think that the linkage between some types of schizophrenia and childhood exposure to Toxoplasma gondii is solid.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe CDC article
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol9no11/03-0143.htm
covers this. The researchers have handicapped themselves by only looking at the antibody versus actual Toxoplasma infection.
"Epidemiologically, two studies have reported that adults who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder had a greater exposure to cats in childhood. In one study, 84 (51%) of the 165 affected versus 65 (38%) of the 165 matched controls had owned a house cat in childhood (p = 0.02).[39]"
I am inclined to think the infection results from low resistance or immunity from inadequate good bacteria in the stomach, and that in turn creates a tendency toward low vitamin B12 which has long been linked to mental disorders.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI believe that a good hard look at childhood vaccines is in order rather than basing the research on maternal illness during gestation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf mental illnesses are unequally spread over the world, striking less hardly poor nations where infections are a scourge, the core of such a theory is apparently questionable.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThis article has merit. Why is it so far fetched to think of the human autoimmune system attacking itself, think allergies. It isn't the grass, mold, milk, etc. that is the problem. It's our body's over response to its presence.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have two children (now teenagers). I have watched as my youngest child
went from fine to being in a full blown PANDAS attack. I know that this same virus has taken a neighbors kidneys.
How a virus will effect a person is based in the genetics of the individual. I find this research, coupled with the genetic research, to be the steping stones to finding the preventive methods, proper treatment and one day a cure.
Oddly, I have never had the flu vaccine. I just couldn't bring myself to willingly put a virus into my body. Not one that I know will change and mutate by the time I have driven back home from getting the shot!
Where can I get a full collor copy of this article vi file sharing?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt is incredibal that people in US still think that medications and vaccines are the answer in the future. They do not cure and they are dangerous to people. Thought Field Therapy cures bad emotional states and you do not even know it or want to know it because you are obsessed with Big Pharma solutions. I feel sorry for you! I have treated more than 5000 people in 7 countries with TFT and among them is traumatized health workers in New Orleans(Katrina)and survivors from the war in Kosovo. You owe your readers to understand that it is possible to get well without medications.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMats J Uldal/ Norway
Muldal,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't think scientists believe they have "the answers". Our solutions are provisional, we work with what the evidence suggests is the best option at the time, and we always look for new, plausible solutions, while improving what we have. That you're dredging up the "vaccine bogyman" and "Big Pharm. conspiracies", with no rational justification, belies a lack of understanding of these principles. The article mentions that giving the flu vaccines during pregnancy might be a dangerous option, it does not say that in general it is a dangerous option. There is no reason to abandon vaccinations due to this article, or other studies performed on vaccinations. There are many reasons to continue using and refining them. Nor is there reason to suggest preventing the flu, or other microbial infections, during pregnancy using drugs or other means isn't a possible solution.
As for TFT, it hasn't been adequately evaluated, nor have your 5000 uncontrolled case reports.
As a pregnant woman (in my first month), I am very concerned about the implications that where made in this article. I will be going into my second trimester by the beginning of the Fall. I was planning to get the flu shot then, since that is what is recommended by my doctor and doctors across the country. However, I am having second thoughts about this after reading the article. I am confused as to what would pose a greater danger - getting the flu shot during pregnancy or actually being infected with the flu during pregnancy. From what I understand, the flu shot contains dead viruses. Wouldn't being infected with the actual flu create a much bigger immune response in the body (and therefore be more dangerous to the baby) than being exposed to the dead viruses contained in the flu shot? Which of the two is the lesser evil?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisLyme Disease causes mental illness in people... I went through it. I was very ill for many years and developed Bi- polar disorder, severe anxiety disorder- so bad that I could not leave my house, developed severe depression, also developed paranoid schizophrenia, which made me not trust anyone or anything. I heard things that were not there. It was absolutely terrifying. After 8 years of treatment with antibiotics and alternative forms of care, I am finally healthy again!! (In my brain). I thank the stars for my return to sanity and good health everyday... I think people would be surprised to really understand the damage microbes can cause in one's brain.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy husband had parnoid scizophrenia. My oldest boy has schizphrenia and my younger boy is bi-polar. How is it possible they all three aquired Ithe same microbe in utero? I don't think so. I wish these scientists would look at the effects of a mans' alcholism on genes. EspecialIy families that have a history of hard core men who have been alcholics. I think that a strong factor.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTwo extensive international studies have independently identified DNA mutations that have a big impact on the risk of schizophrenia. Using different methods, two research groups found that people missing specific "chunks" of DNA run a much higher risk of schizophrenia.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAlthough the DNA mutations are found in only 1% of people living with schizophrenia, the mutations increase the risk of developing schizophrenia in the first place by as much as 15-fold.
The results of the studies, headed by Dr. Pamela Sklar of Massachusetts General Hospital and Dr. Kari Stefansson of Decode Genetics in Iceland, suggest that the genetic component of schizophrenia is a large number of rare variations, rather than a few common variations.
In other words, the genetic mutations causing schizophrenia may not be consistent across the population. The disease may be driven by a constant flow of new mutations.
Dr. Sklar told the Associated Press that it is not unusual for a very rare cause of a disease to provide insights that apply more generally, even though they may not represent a breakthrough tied to a cure. They may eventually suggest "new avenues" for researching new therapies, she told Reuters news services.
In an interview with Reuters, David St. Clair of Scotland, who was involved in both studies, called the findings "the beginning of a new era in schizophrenia research."
Pregnant women especially should be looking very closely at a possible link between interventionist obstetrical practices and later psychological and neurological problems. Start here:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_paradox
I did lot of study about this subject,if you need to know ,
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thispleas contact me.
samir100100@yahoo.com
The attenuated viruses in vaccines can cause immune system reactions (that IS what they are designed to do after all and is why they put so many chemicals in them) which can not only induce the production of cytokines but can release other proteins. In addition, vaccine genetic materials can recombine with pathogens to make new varieties and or create new and different pathogens (see John Martin's stealth virus.) I have had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia Syndrome for years and just recently the viral theories of causation are being definitively proven with successful treatment with antiviral medications; it's not all just in my mind, it's in my brain and heart! Just goes to show that when folks start coming up with explanations that require umpteen things to be a factor and it seems to be getting so complex that even complexity experts are dizzied, it's time to remind them of Occam's Razor.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe attenuated viruses in vaccines can cause immune system reactions (that IS what they are designed to do after all and is why they put so many chemicals in them) which can not only induce the production of cytokines but can release other proteins. In addition, vaccine genetic materials can recombine with pathogens to make new varieties and or create new and different pathogens (see John Martin's stealth virus.) I have had Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Fibromyalgia Syndrome for years and just recently the viral theories of causation are being definitively proven with successful treatment with antiviral medications; it's not all just in my mind, it's in my brain and heart! Just goes to show that when folks start coming up with explanations that require umpteen things to be a factor and it seems to be getting so complex that even complexity experts are dizzied, it's time to remind them of Occam's Razor.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBoth of you bring up important ideas. I have 3 children. Two are boys with autism. My daughter is not affected. Believe me, I have researched extensively for several years to try to unravel the mystery of the etiology of autism as the medical community nor the autism community have ever provided information to cause a eureka moment in my situation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy first child, who regressed into autism after normal development was vaccinated and did show a deterioration within days after the MMR. In hindsight, believing this to be a factor in his downward spiral, I chose to eliminate my daughter's remaining vaccine's and did not allow my youngest boy to have any vaccines. This was done as an experiment for peace of mind--to no avail. He subsequently developed regressive-type autism as well.
What I can say about all of this is that both of you may be right. It's not necessrily the mercury that is causing the autism, but instead the antigen exposure combined with genetic propensity. Whether the antigen is introduced via injection vs. natural exposure is irrelevant. If the immune system, due to genetic predisposition, responds inadequately or overactively by releasing autoantibodies that subsequently attack certain portions of the brain and/or neurotransmitter activity may indeed be the culprit.
Both of my boys have the following histories in common: Schizophrenia, tourette's, OCD, Rh incompatability, allergies, ear infections, dairy allergies, autoimmune disease and bipolar family history. I had Graves disease diagnosed when my first boy was 8 months old, and breast cancer and am currently being treated for such, but most likely had Graves during first pregnancy. I also had a flu-type illness during first pregancy for which they would not give me antibiotics. Both boys have incompatible blood type to my own. I had to have the RhoGam injection during pregnancy to prevent an antibody response. My daughter has same blood type, never had an ear infection and I was not ill during th
Immuno-neurologists are studying this. But, perhaps, a better approach should be a panel of experts in all areas coming together to brain-storm the root causes. They chart a course without examining all of the breakthrough studies in a variety of fields exploring not only the etiology of autism but other mental illness that is undoubtedly related or one in the same. (The DSM 4 overlaps too often for comfort here). Point is, valuable time is being wasted due to the MD's wearing blinders and Psychologists often ignoring biology.
A strong family history of mental illness can have a correlation to a strong family history of alcoholism without actually having causation in either direction. Mind you, the correlation is certainly noteworthy, and not limited to your own family and experience.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOur brains are like Rubik's Cubes. It's a field of study that contains many complex twists, turns, and possibilities, but I do believe we are closer to finding solutions than we were a century ago.
As for non-drug therapies, I think they're great. Especially when combined with drug therapies.
It is true that we do ourselves a disservice when we stop considering options and alternatives, but we should not over-correct and stop considering what is considered mainstream (ie drug therapy).
I was diagnosed as BI-POLAR 1 year ago. I am 50 years old.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMental illness runs in my family, but I am the first out of 7
children to be hospitalized. This was during a divorce. In 1994
I took the Hepatitis B vaccination. The first injection made me
feel bad and made my legs hurt. The second injection pushed
out arthritis in my body and my legs went into spasms. I also
had headaches. I was tested for arthritis and I had a low positive ANA. I filed the information with the CDC. Did this
cause me to be bi-polar? Thank You
Does the hepatitis b vaccine cause mental illness?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA great deal of this disease is caused by dormant bacteria which waits to feed on the dead body after death, though it can be antagonistically activated into beginning to eat the brain while the person is still alive. Being that it is in such close proximity to the cranial nerves, it can both communicate directly and effect the social behaviors of an individual. Much related to the syphilitic parasite, it can communicate and appear to contain an almost human like aspect to itself and its' own survival. It is also related to mushrooms as it lives off the decaying matter, and interacts with the neurotransmitters as if it were a computer hacker. Just as inner auditory thoughts produce vibrations along the retinal nerves so can these bacteria act in the same electrical responsive materials. Treatment for this sort of schizophrenia, which is different from long term nerve and brain damage, though it also can activate these microbes into action, the simple effect of arguing with their placement can produce similar reactions from them to disassociate normal neuron growth and can stymie parts of the brain just as cancer does. Though its necessity to act as different problems can lead to assumptions by the medical profession even to the point of no longer testing for any apparent problems that they may also seem to be. The odd similarities to psychic abilities from schizophrenics comes mainly from dna mirroring across long distances and high stress situations which produce so called esp transitions. These bacteria are mostly dormant and are witnessed in the rest of the unknown dna and are hidden in a efferent reaction of the human psyche to remain unnoticed by these fungal, parasitic bacteria which can effect anyone ant any time. Later in life resulting in senility and some strange attraction the ever younger people, but the strange cross reprisal to mediums to act as dead people and arrest these murders shows an dysfunction in the bacteria themselves. Their intellect is of a very low number and their very lives depend upon the extended lives of human races. The parasite mostly enjoys spending its time causing fear of some sensory afterlife that does not exist. All attempt by humans to stop them has resulted in a twenty five percent lessening of the bacteria abilities, but their damage to sexual nerves to extremes of overuse is untreatable as of date. At the parasites strongest is during the sleep cycles NREM and REM where the brain is already in a hypnotic state and is highly suggestible to creating auditory images in the hallucination.
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