Posted by Larry Hoover on December 7, 2003, at 12:29:36
In reply to BACTERIA AND OCD. Comments pls., posted by freedom2001 on December 2, 2003, at 5:02:22
> A person posted:
> My parents said after I had spinal menengitis at age 3 (almost died, it was very bad, the bacterial type Influenza Type B, I believe).., that I started to exhibit OCD symptoms.. So I'm wondering if that's why I developed OCD... never had strep throat..
>
>
> Comments pls.Influenza is a virus. The problem is viruses (actually virii is the correct plural) are not generally responsive to medical intervention. Common childhood viruses like chicken pox are permanent residents in our body....shingles in old age is the reappearance of an infection that is decades old. There are a number of candidate viruses which may be associated with mental illness. The common cold or flu may trigger schizophrenia in individuals exposed in the womb. Borna virus may cause mood disorders. Coxsackie virus may cause depression and chronic fatigue, as may Epstein-Barr (mononucleosis). And on and on.
To make it all even more difficult, we know that many people are exposed to these viruses, but don't develop psychiatric symptoms.
Some antivirals, such as amantadine, have limited success in some individuals, but what do we do about all the others?
Then you've got infective agents like Toxoplasma gondii, the little critter that cats can give people via their feces.
Or the spirochete that causes Lyme disease.
Then there are organisms called the mycoplasmae.
It might be liking trying to find needles in a haystack.
I've been following the topic for years now, but it's still more theory than fact.
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:285807
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031202/msgs/287418.html