The researchers took blood samples from 17 people with medically managed schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and a control group of 13 healthy adults to test for evidence of Bartonella infection, which is associated with cats exposed to fleas and potentially ticks.
Of the 17 patients with schizophrenia, 12 had Bartonella DNA in their blood, compared with only one in 13 in the control group. Both groups reported similar pet properties and flea exposures.
The study, published this month in the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, could not, by design, show a causal link between Bartonella infection and schizophrenia. But researchers plan to do a larger study to see if preliminary results are confirmed.
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Erin Lashnits, who recently joined the UW-Madison College, participated in the research while at North Carolina State University. Researchers have long looked at the link between bacterial infection and neuropsychiatric illness, with some studies suggesting the property of the cat is associated with schizophrenia of a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis, Lashnits said.
“So we decided to look at another infectious agent transmitted by the cat, Bartonella, to see if there might be a connection,” she said in a statement.
Bartonella are bacteria historically associated with cat scratch disease, also known as cat scratch fever, which until recently was thought to be only a short-lived or self-limiting infection. In humans, the condition may include a swelling or blisters at the site of a cat scratch or bite, and the lymph nodes may swell. People may also feel tired and have a headache or fever.
“While there is an emerging understanding of neuropsychiatric diseases, such as schizophrenia, as brain disorders, the question of the real causes remains unanswered,” said co-author Flavio Frohlich, an associate professor of psychiatry at UNC School of Medicine. “As far as we know, this is the first work that examines a potential role of Bartonella in schizophrenia.”
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