Posted by Francisco Araujo on June 8, 1999, at 14:37:04
In reply to Depression a virus?, posted by Pegasus on June 8, 1999, at 4:08:20
Previous studies looking for evidence of viral infection in schizophrenics have
yielded conflicting results. We searched for viral nucleic acids to test the hypothesis of the viral
aetiology of schizophrenia. METHOD. We used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to search for
cytomegalovirus (CMV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), influenza A, Borna disease virus
(BDV), and bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV) in: hippocampus from three schizophrenic and three
non-schizophrenic subjects; cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 48 schizophrenic patients; CSF and
peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from nine sets of identical twins discordant for
schizophrenia; and SK-N-SHEP cells co-cultured with schizophrenic and non-schizophrenic brain
homogenates. All patients met DSM-III-R criteria. RESULTS. Virus-specific nucleic acids were not
found in any of the samples tested. CONCLUSIONS. The absence of viral nucleic acids in the
samples tested suggest that, in these patients, schizophrenia is not associated with a persistent or latent
infection due to these viruses.Br J Psychiatry 1995 Jan;166(1):55-60
poster:Francisco Araujo
thread:7164
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7182.html