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Virus linked to schizophrenia

Virus linked to schizophrenia

Scientists say that schizophrenia, a mental disorder characterised by changes in thinking and memory function, may be triggered by a virus. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have found a link between schizophrenia and viral infection. They tested the cerebro-spinal fluids of schizophrenics and normal individuals. Thirty percent of the schizophrenics tested had the footprint of a retrovirus called HERV-W while none of the control subjects had any trace of it, suggesting a viral link for schizophrenia. The findings were presented at the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They also suggested that the role of the virus was primarily in the onset of the disease rather than its continuance, since more acute schizophrenics seemed to have traces of the virus compared to chronic patients. Endogenous retroviruses are a natural part of the human genome, having inserted themselves into the human genome millions of years ago. It has been suggested that some events like maternal nutrition and prenatal infections have been found to be risk factors and these might activate these dormant viruses that could trigger schizophrenia. Schizophrenia is a complex mental illness in which a person loses the ability to think, feel or behave normally. Nearly 6-7 million Indians suffer from this disorder, which is believed to be a brain disorder with a genetic basis. Though this may be the first evidence of the contribution of infectious agents to the disease, the question still remains how and why this virus gets activated.
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