BORNA-DISEASE VIRUS-ANTIBODIES AND THE DEFICIT SYNDROME OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

We detected anti-Borna disease virus (BDV) antibodies at a 14.4% rate in patients with schizophrenia. The hypothesis of a higher rate of BDV seropositivity in deficit syndrome was borne out in a subset of 64 pa tients categorized according to the Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome with 5/15 seropositive deficit and 4/49 seropositive nondeficit (p<0.0 5). This suggests that the antibodies and possibly a BDV-like virus ar e pathogenetically linked to this form of schizophrenia.