Researchers took blood samples from 17 people with medically treated schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and a control group of 13 healthy adults to test for signs of Bartonella infection, which is associated with cats exposed to fleas and possibly ticks.
Of the 17 patients with schizophrenia, 12 had Bartonella DNA in their blood, compared to only one of the 13 in the control group. Both groups reported similar pet ownership and flea exposure.
The study, published this month in the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, was unable to demonstrate a causal relationship between Bartonella infection and schizophrenia. But researchers plan to conduct a larger study to see if the preliminary results are confirmed.
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Erin Lashnits, who recently joined UW-Madison faculty, took part in the study while working at North Carolina State University. Researchers have been looking at the link between bacterial infection and neuropsychiatric illness for some time, with some research suggesting that cat ownership is associated with schizophrenia due to a parasite that can cause toxoplasmosis, Lashnits said.
“So we decided to look at another cat-borne infectious agent, Bartonella, to see if there could be a link,” she said in a statement.
Bartonella are bacteria traditionally associated with cat scratch disease, also known as cat scratch disease, which until recently was thought to be only a transient or self-limiting infection. In humans, the condition can include a bump or blister at the site of a cat’s scratch or bite, and lymph nodes can swell. People may also feel tired and have a headache or fever.
“While there is an emerging understanding of neuropsychiatric diseases such as schizophrenia as disorders of brain networks, the question of the true causes remains unanswered,” said study co-author Flavio Frohlich, associate professor of psychiatry at the UNC School of Medicine, in a statement. “To our knowledge, this is the very first work to investigate a possible role for Bartonella in schizophrenia.”
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