Associated Press
CHICAGO — Pregnant women infected with the genital herpes virus may face an increased risk of having children who develop schizophrenia and other mental disorders, research suggests.
"Whether the herpes infection is a direct cause or just a factor is still unknown," said Dr. Robert Yolken of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, co-author of the study.
Previous studies have suggested that infections in pregnant women, including measles and the flu, may make their children more prone to schizophrenia later in life. But those studies generally were based on women’s recollections of whether they had had infections during pregnancy.
The new study, the first to identify a possible herpes-schizophrenia link, is different because it involved adults with mental illness whose mothers had given blood samples while pregnant. The researchers were able to use the samples to identify which women actually had infections.
Evidence of herpes simplex virus type 2 infections was found in 10 of the 27 mothers, four times higher than the rate in the general population.
The herpes link is very preliminary, in part because the study involved only 27 adults with schizophrenia or other psychotic illnesses, said Dr. Ezra Susser, head of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and at New York State Psychiatric Institute.
But Susser, who was not involved in the research, called the study a breakthrough because of the researchers’ methods.
The study appears in November’s Archives of General Psychiatry.
Scientists are uncertain what causes schizophrenia, which affects about 2 million Americans. It is known to run in families, and many believe genes play a role. Susser said most scientists believe some sort of "prenatal insult" affecting brain development also is involved.
The researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Buka of Harvard University’s School of Public Health, acknowledged the study is small but said the potential link between prenatal herpes and psychotic illnesses is plausible and should be investigated further, especially since genital herpes is so common and can be treated.
Herpes simplex type 2 is sexually transmitted and is thought to infect about 15 percent to 20 percent of U.S. women of childbearing age. It can be passed from mother to child during pregnancy or at childbirth and might harm the child’s brain, Yolken said.
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