A study of Swedish health records finds evidence supporting an "infectious hypothesis" of schizophrenia development, linking the disorder to viral infections in childhood.
Analyzing data on infections of the central nervous system before age 13, researchers found that childhood cases of the mumps tripled the risk of later psychosis. Meanwhile, cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common infection from the herpes family, increased the risk sixteen-fold. The study also discovered more evidence for the established link between toxoplasmosis and schizophrenia, finding that toxoplamosis antibodies were 25 percent higher in the six months before and after schizophrenia diagnosis.
FULL TEXT: The Risk for Schizophrenia From Childhood and Adult Infections