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Toxoplasma gondii - obsessive -compulsive disorder relationship: is it different in children?
Özlem Miman1, Özlem Özcan2, Süheyla Ünal3
1a Department of Parasitology , Dokuz Eylul University Medical Faculty , Izmir , Turkey.
Background And Aim:
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common neuropsychiatric illness. Although the etiology of OCD is still unknown, recent investigations have associated development of OCD with infectious illness. Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a neurotropic protozoan parasite that causes infection of the central nervous system. In the last decade, a lot of researches have focused on the possible relationship between exposure to T. gondii and neuropsychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Therefore, in this study, it was aimed to investigate a possible association between Toxoplasma infection and OCD in children and adolescents.
Methods:
We selected 55 patients with OCD (aged between 7 and 16 years) and 59 healthy children and adolescents (aged between 7 and 16 years), and investigated the seropositivity rate for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.
Results:
The seropositivity rate for anti-T. gondii IgG antibodies among OCD patients (21.82%) was found to be higher than the rate in control group (15.25%). However, the difference between the OCD group and the control group was not statistically significant (p > .05).
Conclusion:
In contrast to studies in adult patients, the results of this study do not support the relationship between T. gondii and OCD children and adolescents.
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