Relationship between mental illness and infectious diseases

Release date: 2014-07-18

Recently, Amir Mufaddel, a mental health service group of the Al Ain Hospital Behavioral Science Association, published an article in the July 2014 issue of the English Journal of the Journal of Psychiatry. The relationship between infectious diseases and mental illness.

a) Infectious diseases lead to psychiatric symptoms: in this case, the initial symptoms of psychosis (such as viral encephalitis) may be present, or clinical symptoms of other diseases may be present (such as in brucellosis or toxoplasma) Mental illness or emotional symptoms in the disease).

b) Possible causes of infectious diseases for major mental illnesses: Unconfirmed reports of infectious diseases (eg influenza virus and HSV) may be the cause of schizophrenia.

c) Side effects of drugs used to treat infectious diseases lead to psychotic symptoms: such as mefloquine, INF.

d) Mental illness may increase the risk of infection: high-risk behavior in people with mania and schizophrenia may increase the risk of infection.

e) Psychiatric symptoms can reflect chronic and serious infections: chronic, complex, and serious infections, such as HIV, can cause depression, anxiety, or adjustment of response.

f) Others: If the infectious disease occurs in a mental patient, the above factors are not included.

Pathogens play an important role in pathophysiological neurodegenerative and neurobehavioral diseases. Pathogens may enter the brain to infect macrophages, either transocyanate across the blood-brain barrier or metastasized from peripheral nerves. The appearance of psychiatric symptoms may be a clinical manifestation of several systems and central nervous system infections. On the other hand, psychological stress can also affect the function of the immune system and increase the body's sensitivity to infectious diseases.

Patients with severe mental illness are also more susceptible to illness in the body than the general population. Demographic studies have found that infectious diseases are more contagious in the psychiatric population. For example, approximately 10% of 588 adult mental patients in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania have AIDS, 32% have hepatitis B, 21% hepatitis C, and a significant proportion of other infectious diseases.

Sometimes, even small, chronic infections can cause mental disorders and subtle cognitive dysfunctions such as irritability, depression, and confusion. Infections may be hidden anywhere in the body leading to various psychiatric symptoms such as urinary tract infections, abscesses, sinusitis, chronic otitis media, bronchiectasis, cholecystitis, parasitic diseases, osteomyelitis, endocarditis, sinusitis and sub-inflammation Clinical systemic infections (such as tuberculosis and HIV). Febrile illnesses are more likely to cause psychotic symptoms, and studies have shown that at least one-third of fever patients exhibit psychotic symptoms, including excitement, aggressive behavior, sleep disorders, hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, delusions, confusion, and disorientation.

The most common infectious diseases that cause mental function include bacterial, viral and parasitic infections. Early identification of the underlying cause of psychotic symptoms is essential for early intervention and treatment to avoid unnecessary long-term psychotherapy and to avoid misdiagnosis or delay. Diagnosis caused complications.

Source: Irvine Culture