Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T07:18:15.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clinical and demographic characteristics of psychiatric patients seropositive for Borrelia burgdorferi

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

T. Hájek ,
J. Libiger ,
D. Janovská ,
P. Hájek ,
M. Alda  and
C. Höschl
T. Hájek*
Affiliation:
Prague Psychiatric Center, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, QEII, HSC, A.J.Lane Building, Room 4031, 5909 Veteran's Memorial Lane, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 2E2
J. Libiger
Affiliation:
Prague Psychiatric Center, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
D. Janovská
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
P. Hájek
Affiliation:
Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of London, UK
M. Alda
Affiliation:
Prague Psychiatric Center, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, QEII, HSC, A.J.Lane Building, Room 4031, 5909 Veteran's Memorial Lane, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 2E2
C. Höschl
Affiliation:
Prague Psychiatric Center, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic
*
*Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-902-473-4677; fax: +1-902-473-1583. E-mail address:[email protected] (T. Hájek).
Get access

Abstract

Purpose.

Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection can affect the central nervous system and possibly lead to psychiatric disorders. We compared clinical and demographic variables in Bb seropositive and seronegative psychiatric patients and healthy controls.

Method.

Nine hundred and twenty-six consecutive psychiatric patients were screened for antibodies to Bb and compared with 884 simultaneously recruited healthy subjects.

Results.

Contrary to healthy controls, seropositive psychiatric patients were significantly younger than seronegative ones. None of the studied psychiatric diagnostic categories exhibited stronger association with seropositivity. There were no differences between seropositive and seronegative psychiatric patients in hospitalization length, proportion of previously hospitalized patients and proportion of subjects with family history of psychiatric disorders.

Conclusion.

These findings elaborate on potential association between Bb infection and psychiatric morbidity, but fail to identify any specific clinical ‘signature’ of Bb infection.

Keywords

Borrelia burgdorferiAntibodiesPsychiatric diagnoses
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 21 , Issue 2 , March 2006 , pp. 118 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Elsevier SAS 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartzokis, G.Schizophrenia: breakdown in the well-regulated lifelong process of brain development and maturation. Neuropsychopharmacology 2002;27(4):672–683.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burgdorfer, W.Barbour, A.G.Hayes, S.F.Benach, J.L.Grunwaldt, E.Davis, J.P.Lyme disease—a tick-borne spirochetosis?. Science 1982;216(4552):1317–1319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Digeon, M.Laver, M.Riza, J.Bach, J.F.Detection of circulating immune complexes in human sera by simplified assays with polyethylene glycol. J. Immunol. Methods 1977;16(2):165–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fallon, B.A.Keilp, J.Prohovnik, I.Heertum, R.V.Mann, J.J.Regional cerebral blood flow and cognitive deficits in chronic Lyme disease. J. Neuropsychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 2003;15(3):326–332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fallon, B.A.Nields, J.A.Lyme disease: a neuropsychiatric illness. Am. J. Psychiatry 1994;151(11):1571–1583.Google ScholarPubMed
Fallon, B.A.Nields, J.A.Parsons, B.Liebowitz, M.R.Klein, D.F.Psychiatric manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. J. Clin. Psychiatry 1993;54(7):263–268.Google ScholarPubMed
Fallon, B.A.Schwartzberg, M.Bransfield, R.Zimmerman, B.Scotti, A.Weber, C.A.et al.Late-stage neuropsychiatric Lyme borreliosis. Differential diagnosis and treatment. Psychosomatics 1995;36(3):295–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hajek, T.Paskova, B.Janovska, D.Bahbouh, R.Hajek, P.Libiger, J.et al.Higher prevalence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in psychiatric patients than in healthy subjects. Am. J. Psychiatry 2002;159(2):297–301.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halperin, J.J.Luft, B.J.Anand, A.K.Roque, C.T.Alvarez, O.Volkman, D.J.et al.Lyme neuroborreliosis: central nervous system manifestations. Neurology 1989;39(6):753–759 [see comments].CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jirous, J.Pokorny, J.Zastera, M.Doutlik, S.Bojar, M.First experience with Elisa serosurvey for tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease) in Czechoslovakia. J. Hyg. Epidemiol. Microbiol. Immunol. 1988;32(2):169–172.Google Scholar
Kaiser, R.Neuroborreliosis. J. Neurol. 1998;245(5):247–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ma, B.Christen, B.Leung, D.Vigo-Pelfrey, C.Serodiagnosis of Lyme borreliosis by western immunoblot: reactivity of various significant antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi. J. Clin. Microbiol. 1992;30(2):370–376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mrazek, V.Bartunek, P.Lyme borreliosis. Cas. Lek. Cesk. 1999;138(11):329–332.Google ScholarPubMed
Roelcke, U.Barnett, W.Wilder-Smith, E.Sigmund, D.Hacke, W.Untreated neuroborreliosis: Bannwarth’s syndrome evolving into acute schizophrenia-like psychosis. A case report. J. Neurol. 1992;239(3):129–131.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schutzer, S.E.Coyle, P.K.Dunn, J.J.Luft, B.J.Brunner, M.Early and specific antibody response to OspA in Lyme disease. J. Clin. Invest. 1994;94(1):454–457.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sigal, L.H.Lyme disease: a review of aspects of its immunology and immunopathogenesis. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 1997;15:63–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stiernstedt, G.Dattwyler, R.Duray, P.H.Hansen, K.Jirous, J.Johnson, R.C.et al.Diagnostic tests in Lyme borreliosis. Scand. J. Infect. Dis. Suppl. 1991;77:136–142.Google ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.