Psychopathology in First-Episode Schizophrenia and Antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii

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Abstract
Objective: Environmental factors such as infectious agents may contribute to the psychopathology and aetiology of schizophrenia. Toxoplasma gondii (TG) is a candidate infectious agent as it is known to replicate within the human central nervous system and to alter behaviour in experimental animals. Method: The relationship between antibodies to TG and psychopathological symptoms was examined in 34 first-episode patients with schizophrenia. Results: Results of regression analyses revealed that symptoms on admission, predictors of outcome, age and family history of psychiatric disease influenced the levels of antibodies to TG. Conclusions: These results indicate that TG infections may play a role in the clinical manifestation of psychopathology in a subgroup of patients with schizophrenia.