CLINICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BORNA-DISEASE-VIRUS (BDV) INFECTION AND SCHIZOPHRENIA IN 67 PATIENTS IN JAPAN

The relationship between Borna disease virus (BDV) infection and schiz ophrenia in the clinical time course was investigated. By nested rever se-transcribed polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blotting , BDV-specific RNA and anti-BDV antibodies were examined in the EDTA-t reated blood from 67 schizophrenic patients (according to DSM-III-R) i n Japan. A significantly higher proportion (45%) of anti-BDV antibody and/or BDV RNA carriers were found among these 67 schizophrenic patien ts than in 26 controls (0%). There were no apparent associations of BD V infection with age, age at onset, period of hospitalization, accompa nying somatic diseases, a past history of tuberculosis, a history of t ransfusion, a family history, or doses of psychotropic drugs. It is po ssible that, at least, BDV infection in schizophrenic patients may not be a nosocomial (hospital-acquired) infection, although the route of BDV infection in humans remains unidentified. More studies on the rela tionship between BDV infection and clinical psychosomatic features sho uld be performed in order to elucidate the pathogenesis of schizophren ia.