Kid Behaviors Linked to Strep

Ivanhoe Newswire
Friday, February 9, 2007; 12:00 AM

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Those little tics and other disruptive behaviors seen in some children could have a surprising cause -- an infection more commonly associated with sore throats.

After following nearly 700 school children, researchers from the University of Florida in Gainesville link the tics and misbehaviors they observed to strep infections. Their study revealed about a quarter of kids with two or more strep infections over an eight-month period were affected by tics and other involuntary movements. The same was true for only 17 percent of children with only one strep infection or no strep infection over the same time period.

"During the fall months when there are more strep infections, after a short time lag, there are increased behavioral symptoms -- enough to indicate an association," reports study author Tanya Murphy, M.D. She and her fellow investigators report strep may cause these problems by triggering an immune response in the body that interacts with brain cells responsible for controlling these behaviors.

So, does this mean a strep infection can cause mental health problems? The authors stop short of that conclusion, but believe the possibility certainly exists.

"We did not assess the children for particular neuropsychiatric disorders, so we're not saying actual disorders were present in the children, but the symptoms were there," Dr. Murphy reports.

Future studies look at whether strep infections are, indeed, associated with neuropsychiatric-related mental health problems, like obsessive-compulsive disorder and Tourette's syndrome.

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SOURCE: Journal of Biological Psychiatry, 2007;61:279-284