title: Association between latent toxoplasmosis and clinical course of schizophrenia - continuous course of the disease is characteristic for Toxoplasma gondii-infected patients.
abstract: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between various clinical aspects of schizophrenia and seropositivity against Toxoplasma gondii (Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908). We selected 94 patients with schizophrenia and investigated the seropositivity rate for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies by ELISA. Clinical parameters of schizophrenic patients such as illness type and status, clinical course, awareness of the illness and need for electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) were compared with their serological status. Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 43 (46%) of schizophrenic patients. Chronic patients had a rate of 34 (72%) seropositivity, whereas 9 (22%) of the patients with partial remission showed evidence of latent toxoplasmosis. Of continuous patients, 35 (81%) were found to be seropositive and this rate was significantly more than in the other groups. The rate of latent toxoplasmosis was detected significantly higher in patients who lack awareness of schizophrenia (36, i.e. 72%) than the patients who were aware of their illnesses (7, i.e. 16%). Anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies were detected in 38 (70%) of ECT performed patients while this percentage was 13% in the ones who had never been treated with ECT. This difference was also statistically significant. We showed that Toxoplasma-infected subjects had 15× higher probability of having continuous course of disease than Toxoplasma-free subjects. Our results put forth the possibility of latent toxoplasmosis to have a negative impact on the course of schizophrenia and treatment response of schizophrenic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Adiyaman University, Adiyaman, Turkey;
authors.forename: Tuncay
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Celik
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey;
authors.forename: Sukru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kartalci
authors.affiliation: Malatya State Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Malatya, Turkey;
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Aytas
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, Ankara University, Ankara, Turkey;
authors.forename: Gulay Aral
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Akarsu
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey.
authors.forename: Harika
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gozukara
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Inonu University, Malatya, Turkey;
authors.forename: Suheyla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unal
keywords: prognosis; schizophrenia patients; serology; toxoplasmosis