Findings: A Possible Herpes-Schizophrenia Link

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. This 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 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 Ezra Susser, head of epidemiology at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

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