SCHIZOPHRENIA may often be caused by a virus, according to research that could lead to improvements in the way the mental illness is treated.
American and German scientists have discovered the genetic signature of a virus in the brains and spinal fluid of up to 30 per cent of patients with schizophrenia, indicating a strong link to the disease.
It is thought that the virus, from a family known as HERV-W, may be present in the environment. More commonly it is found in a patient’s DNA and is thought somehow to be “switched on” in some of those who contract the disease.Researchers hope the discovery will lead to the creation of a drug that could kill the virus or prevent the viral element in DNA from becoming active.
In the study scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and at the University of Heidelberg examined cerebrospinal fluid — which bathes the brain and spinal...