No changes in paired viral antibody titers during the course of acute schizophrenia

Although there have been many studies surveying the prevalence of specific viral antibodies in a large cohort of patients with schizophrenia, changes in antibody levels during the course of acute illness have not been fully i nvestigated. We conducted a preliminary study investigating levels of antib odies to 5 herpesviruses (herpes simplex virus type 1, cytomegalovirus, Eps tein-Barr virus, varicella-zoster virus and human herpesvirus type 6) and 6 other viruses (measles, rubella, mumps, influenza A and B and Japanese enc ephalitis viruses) in paired sera of 8 patients with acute onset or exacerb ation of schizophrenia. Assay for specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody was also performed for herpesviruses and mumps. Neither any relevant change in antibody levels nor appearance of specific IgM antibody was observed fo r any of the viruses in any of the patients investigated. It is unlikely th at the active infection or reactivation of these viruses has direct causal relationship to schizophrenia in these patients.