Influenza and schizophrenia: a possible connection with the substantia nigra

The neurovirulent influenza virus of the 1918 pandemic induced clinical schizophrenia. The biochemistry, the neurovascular anatomy, the afferent connections, and the efferent connections of the substantia nigra suggest that a (Na+K)-ATPase injury could be a cause of some positive schizophrenias. The genetic trait in schizophrenia may be an inheritable susceptibility to an infectious agent.