Original scientific paper

SEROPOSITIVITY OF NEUROTROPIC INFECTIOUS AGENTS IN FIRST-EPISODE SCHIZOPHRENIA PATIENTS AND THE RELATIONSHIP WITH POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SYMPTOMS

Abdullah Bolu ; Gulhane Military Medical School, Ankara, Turkey
Taner Oznur ; Gulhane Military Medical School, Ankara, Turkey
Duran Tok ; Turkish Armed Forces Health Command, Ankara, Turkey
Adem Balikci ; Gulhane Military Medical School, Ankara, Turkey
Kenan Sener ; Gulhane Military Medical School, Ankara, Turkey
Cemil Celik ; Gulhane Military Medical School, Ankara, Turkey
Murat Gulsun ; Turkish Armed Forces Health Command, Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Background: According to the neurodevelopmental model, schizophrenia is a disorder that occurs as a result of different
etiologic factors during brain development, including viral infections. However, it is unclear whether these infections are related to
the disease or whether they affect the symptom pattern. We investigated the presence of four herpes viruses (EBV, CMV, HSV-1 and
HSV-2) in first-episode schizophrenia patients and compared seropositive with seronegative patients and healthy volunteers to reveal
the etiological role of viral agents on schizophrenia symptoms.
Subjects and methods: Ninety-two first-episode patients who met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for schizophreniform disorder
were included the study, along with 88 healthy volunteers. The presence of the four herpes viruses was investigated with serological
methods (ELISA) in both groups. Positive and negative symptoms were evaluated with Scale for the Assessment of Negative
Symptoms (SANS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS).
Results: There was no difference between the patient and control groups in terms of seropositivity of the four viruses. We found
that SANS scores of HSV-1 and CMV seropositive schizophrenia patients were significantly higher than the scores of patients with
seronegative schizophrenia. No difference was found in SAPS scores.
Conclusions: The results suggest a role of HSV and CMV infections in negative symptoms. This supports the hypothesis that
viruses do not directly give rise to schizophrenia, but patients who were previously been infected with these viral agents may be
prone to schizophrenia, and some of the symptom patterns may be related to different agents.

Keywords

first-episode; infectious; schizophrenia; seropositivity; symptoms

Hrčak ID:

175259

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/175259

Publication date:

7.6.2016.

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