No association of borna disease virus with psychiatric disorders among patients in northern Kyushu, Japan

There is controversy over the prevalence of Borna disease virus (BDV) antib odies and its RNA in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of psyc hiatric patients, and the contribution of BDV to human psychiatric disorder s. We examined 299 plasma and 229 PBMC samples. No plasma samples were posi tive for BDV-p40, p24 or gp18 antibodies by western blot analysis. The prev alence of BDV RNA in the psychiatric (schizophrenic) patients (1.8%) was no t significantly different from that in the healthy volunteers (0.6%). The n ucleotide sequences of BDV p40 and p24 were highly conserved with those of BDV He/80. Our results suggested that there is a lack of association betwee n BDV infection and psychiatric disorders among the patients in Northern Ky ushu, Japan. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.