CONTAGION IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - A CRITIQUE OF CROW AND DONE (1986)

This article discusses the literature on the possible role of viruses in the development of schizophrenia and outlines the evidence that com pelled Crow and Done (1986) to reject a horizontal contagion hypothesi s (e.g., sibling to sibling transmission). We posit a genetically dete rmined age after which one becomes vulnerable to the illness, rather t han a strict age of onset. We also propose an environmentally determin ed range of resistance to this susceptibility as an alternative concep tualization of the role of inheritance and of viral exposure in the et iology of the disease. The predictions derived from our new model fit the findings of Crow and Done and are consistent with the older litera ture of possible viral factors, thus reaffirming the horizontal contag ion hypothesis.