Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 15, 2026
05:08
Application of I TASSER, trRosetta, UCSF Chimera, HADDOCK server, and HEX loria for De Novo and In Silico Design of Proteins
Published on: July 8, 2025
PANDAS: a new disease?
Sheila Knupp Feitosa de Oliveira1
1Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. sheila_knupp@hotmail.com
Jornal De Pediatria
|May 9, 2007
Summary
Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infection (PANDAS) criteria are debated, but tics and OCD symptoms following strep infections suggest an autoimmune link. Further research is needed to confirm PANDAS.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Infectious Diseases
- Autoimmune Disorders
Background:
- Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infection (PANDAS) is a controversial pediatric condition.
- It is characterized by tics and obsessive-compulsive symptoms that emerge after streptococcal infections, potentially via autoimmune mechanisms.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish diagnostic criteria for PANDAS.
- To analyze existing evidence on PANDAS etiopathogenesis, treatment, and prophylaxis.
Main Methods:
- A literature review was conducted using MEDLINE.
- The search covered scientific literature published between 1989 and 2006.
Main Results:
- Diagnostic criteria for PANDAS were established but remain controversial.
- Key symptoms include tics and obsessive-compulsive disorders post-streptococcal infection, distinct from rheumatic chorea.
- Antimicrobial and immunologic therapies show potential feasibility.
Conclusions:
- Further research is essential to resolve PANDAS diagnostic questions.
- Clinicians should consider PANDAS in children with tic and obsessive-compulsive disorders, looking for evidence of prior streptococcal infection.
Related Concept Videos
01:05Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms-SNPs
A single nucleotide polymorphism or SNP is a single nucleotide variation at a specific genomic position in a large population. It is the most prevalent type of sequence variation found in the human genome. Point mutations that occur in more than 1% of the population qualify as SNPs. These are present once every 1000 nucleotides on an average in the human genome. Replacement of a purine with another purine (A/G) or a pyrimidine with another pyrimidine (C/T) is known as a transition. In contrast,...
01:28Infectious Diseases and Their Occurrence
Infectious diseases appear in populations through various transmission patterns, influenced by pathogen characteristics, population immunity, environmental conditions, and social behavior. Understanding these patterns is essential for effective public health surveillance and intervention. These categories—sporadic, outbreak, epidemic, pandemic, and endemic—help frame the nature and scope of disease events.Sporadic diseases occur irregularly and infrequently, without a predictable temporal or...
00:57Viral Recombination
Cells are sometimes infected by more than one virus at once. When two viruses disassemble to expose their genomes for replication in the same cell, similar regions of their genomes can pair together and exchange sequences in a process called recombination. Alternatively, viruses with segmented genomes can swap segments in a process called reassortment.
01:24Plague
Plague is a highly virulent zoonotic disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic coccobacillus. This pathogen primarily circulates among rodent populations and is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected fleas. Additional transmission routes include direct contact with infected animal tissue or inhalation of respiratory droplets from individuals with pneumonic plague. These multiple transmission pathways highlight the bacterium’s potential for rapid...
01:14Atypical Pneumonia
Atypical pneumonia, often caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae, is a form of pulmonary infection that differs from the classical presentation of bacterial pneumonia in both its cause and clinical symptoms. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a pleomorphic bacterium notable for its lack of a rigid cell wall. This structural characteristic imparts resistance to beta-lactam antibiotics and significantly influences the bacterium’s behavior within the human host.Other pathogens responsible for the disease include...
01:28Toxoplasmosis
Toxoplasmosis, a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, poses significant public health challenges globally due to its high seroprevalence and varied clinical manifestations. As an obligate intracellular parasite, T. gondii can infect all warm-blooded vertebrates, but felids are its only definitive hosts, shedding unsporulated oocysts into the environment. Humans typically acquire the infection through ingestion of tissue cysts in undercooked meat or oocysts from...