title: Epstein-Barr virus as a cause of autoimmune disease and other medical morbidity in patients with affective disorders.
abstract: We hypothesize that psychiatric patients suffering from the major affective disorders (depression and manic-depressive illness) may commonly also suffer from a chronic active infection with the Epstein-Barr virus. This infection would be a consequence of the immune dysfunction known to be associated with these disorders of mood. According to this hypothesis, the increased medical morbidity and mortality reported in these psychiatric patients would be attributable in part to diseases in which Epstein-Barr virus is implicated or suspected as a cause.
authors.affiliation: Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: R G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Warsh
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hasey
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications*; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000150:complications*