Undiagnosed Lyme disease in adults with schizophrenia

Lyme disease (LD) is the world's leading tick borne infection caused by the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). This infection is a global health concern and is associated with numerous cardiologic, dermatologic, rheumatologic neurologic, and psychiatric manifestations (Bratton et al., 2008). Only a few epidemiologic studies have evaluated the frequency of antibodies to Bb in psychiatric patients; one study found only 1/517 (0.2%) of all adult psychiatric patients had Lyme titer seropositivity (Nadelman et al., 1997) and the other larger study found that 322/926 (35%) of psychiatric inpatients had seropositivity to antibodies to Bb (Hajek et al., 2002).

Source: Schizophrenia Research - August 6, 2015 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Maju Mathew Koola, Kelli M. Sullivan, Amber K. Earl, Stephanie M. Feldman, Charles Richardson, Gopal R. Vyas, Heidi J. Wehring, Deanna L. Kelly Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research