Researcher finds retroviral ‘footprint’ in brains of people with schizophrenia; “…strongest evidence yet that a virus may contribute to some cases
of schizophrenia.

In this week’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, (Johns Hopkins) Children’s Center neurovirologist Robert Yolken, M.D., and his colleagues report
the molecular “footprint” of a retrovirus in the cerebrospinal fluid of about 30 percent of people with acute schizophrenia and about 7 percent of
people with a chronic form of the disease. The footprint was absent in the brains and cerebrospinal fluid of all people who did not have
schizophrenia. ” EurekAlert! The study was conducted at Johns Hopkins’ Stanley Neurovirology laboratory, which focuses on “the elucidation of the role of infection and immunity in the etiology of schizophrenia and bipolar
disorders.”