A new study has found that patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or another psychotic disorder are three times more likely to have Bartonella DNA in their blood than adults without these disorders.
The results presented in this publication are provocative and suggest a potential link between Bartonella infection and psychosis. If corroborated, these findings open exciting new avenues for research into the role of infectious agents in mental health. Further studies might also reveal new diagnostic and treatment approaches for neuropsychiatric disorders.
This research was made possible in part by the Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University Irving Medical Center that was established by GLA and the Lyme Disease Association. If you would like to read more about the study, you can read the news article written by Tracey Peake at NC State University. Below is an excerpt of the article:
This is the second study to identify Bartonella in the blood of psychiatric patients. A 2020 study, interrupted by the COVID pandemic, found Bartonella species DNA in 11 of 17 (65%) University of North Carolina School of Medicine patients with schizophrenia versus one of 13 (8%) in healthy volunteer controls.
“We’ve now demonstrated the presence of Bartonella species in the blood of two separate cohorts of patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms, which indicates that these bacteria are worth studying further as a potential driver of these symptoms,” Breitschwerdt says. “At the very least, we need to continue to see if these findings are replicated in other patient populations.”
“This study provides further support for an association between Bartonella species infection and psychosis and may have important clinical implications,” notes Dr. Brian Fallon of CUIMC. “However, it is worth emphasizing that association does not prove causality; other factors may account for the association.
“The other significant finding was that the frequency of positive antibody tests for Bartonella infection was not significantly different for the controls versus the individuals with psychosis; this suggests that exposure to Bartonella is common in the general population and that reliance on serologic test results alone can be misleading.”
it is important to remember, however, that an association does not indicate causation. Furthermore, the tests used in this study can sometimes be unclear and give mixed results, which might affect how accurate the diagnosis is. In turn this could result in misdiagnosis and inappropriate and delayed treatment. Ideally, validation of these study results by other research investigators and laboratories would strengthen the potential link reported.
References:
Bartonella DNA Found in Blood of Patients With Psychosis | NC State News (ncsu.edu)
Delaney S, Robveille C, Maggi RG, Lashnits E, Kingston E, Liedig C, Murray L, Fallon BA, Breitschwerdt EB. Bartonella species bacteremia in association with adult psychosis. Front Psychiatry. 2024 Jun 7;15:1388442. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1388442. PMID: 38911703; PMCID: PMC11190357.
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