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. 2005 Mar-Apr;38(2):87-90.
doi: 10.1159/000085349. Epub 2005 Apr 22.

Psychopathology in first-episode schizophrenia and antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii

S Bachmann  1 , J Schröder, C Bottmer, E F Torrey, R H Yolken
Affiliations

Psychopathology in first-episode schizophrenia and antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii

S Bachmann et al. Psychopathology. 2005 Mar-Apr.

Abstract

Objective: Environmental factors such as infectious agents may contribute to the psychopathology and aetiology of schizophrenia. Toxoplasma gondii (TG) is a candidate infectious agent as it is known to replicate within the human central nervous system and to alter behaviour in experimental animals.

Method: The relationship between antibodies to TG and psychopathological symptoms was examined in 34 first-episode patients with schizophrenia.

Results: Results of regression analyses revealed that symptoms on admission, predictors of outcome, age and family history of psychiatric disease influenced the levels of antibodies to TG.

Conclusions: These results indicate that TG infections may play a role in the clinical manifestation of psychopathology in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia.

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