This connection between kittens and mental illness is, disturbingly, growing stronger.
A new study has found that a bacterium known to cause fever from cat scratches (so called because of cats’ propensity to spread it through bites and scratches) is most commonly found in the bloodstream of schizophrenics. than those who do not have a mental disorder.
The research, published this month in the journal Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases, examined only a small contingent of people and is not definitive. But it adds to growing work that supports that getting infected with Bartonella bacteria can cause neurological problems.
“Our research to date continues to support a role for Bartonella species as a cause or co-factor in neuropsychiatric diseases,” study author Edward Breitschwerdt, who has been studying bacteria. “There is a lot of work that needs to be done to clarify these preliminary results.”
Breitschwerdt previously worked on a study of a 14-year-old midwestern boy who suddenly began to experience psychosis-like symptoms after being scratched by his cat.
“Historically, before the onset of psychiatric symptoms, the boy was socially, athletically and academically active, as evidenced by participation in national geography and history competitions, and a lead actor in a play, winning a fencing award and achieving excellent course grades, ”a 2019 Breitschwerdt study on the boy, who was initially diagnosed with schizophrenia, reported.
He was once put in a psychiatric cellar for a week after saying he was a “damn, damn son of the devil,” according to a report at the time.
Doctors quickly began scanning the boy’s medical records, hoping to get answers that explained the boy’s strange and sudden behavior.
After many years in and out of hospitals, they found that he was in fact suffering from a Bartonella infection. After receiving antibiotics to treat the infection, the boy recovered “completely.”
Late last year, Breitschwerdt published a study in the journal Pathogens in which 33 participants, 29 of whom were found to be infected with Bartonella, had neuropsychiatric symptoms. The findings of this study also reported evidence of a connection between bacteria and mental illness.