Schizophrenia is caused by a VIRUS? (medical news)

[$5 submissions]

Interesting medical news. Change in paradigm as to the cause of this condition

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun...insanity-virus

The facts of schizophrenia are so peculiar, in fact, that they have led Torrey and a growing number of other scientists to abandon the traditional explanations of the disease and embrace a startling alternative. Schizophrenia, they say, does not begin as a psychological disease. Schizophrenia begins with an infection.

The idea has sparked skepticism, but after decades of hunting, Torrey and his colleagues think they have finally found the infectious agent. You might call it an insanity virus. If Torrey is right, the culprit that triggers a lifetime of hallucinations?that tore apart the lives of writer Jack Kerouac, mathematician John Nash, and millions of others?is a virus that all of us carry in our bodies. ?Some people laugh about the infection hypothesis,? says Urs Meyer, a neuroimmunologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. ?But the impact that it has on researchers is much, much, much more than it was five years ago. And my prediction would be that it will gain even more impact in the future.?

[CurrentlySober]

I had encephalitis once. Thats when the brain kinda splits (not literally, but figuratively) and reality and what it 'tells' you is happening are two VERY different things... and that is a viral infection

So, Schizophrenia is a simler kinda thing... So it could well be viral as well...

[CaptainHowdy]

I like viruses...

[CurrentlySober]

Originally Posted by CaptainHowdy

I like viruses...

[IllTestYourGirls]

6 months before a country creates a weapon out of this.

[alias]

Interesting read.

[HomerSimpson]

Originally Posted by IllTestYourGirls

6 months before a country creates a weapon out of this.

sad but true

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by IllTestYourGirls

6 months before a country creates a weapon out of this.

say we dropped a schizo bomb on a enemy, then what? watch them either
a) write long boring novels
2) c) paint some really crazy shit
4) go postal somewhere down the line and execute some people at mcdonalds.

[SmokeyTheBear]

future weapons will be sterilization. one bomb in the middle east and there wouldn't be people in 100 years

[seeandsee]

Originally Posted by $5 submissions

Interesting medical news. Change in paradigm as to the cause of this condition

http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun...insanity-virus

JESUS people can be fucked by many shit

[Amputate Your Head]

good to see some progress in this field.

[ottopottomouse]

How do you catch it - kiss a lunatic or what?

[Klen]

It's kind interested development of that condition,when you are young then you are extremely paranoid and you think how everyone wants to kill you,and when you reach 40's then there is chance how person with such condition will kill someone.

[$5 submissions]

Originally Posted by ottopottomouse

How do you catch it - kiss a lunatic or what?

According to the article, most human beings already have the virus. There's some environmental triggers. It's not the virus per se that causes the condition but the body's reaction to the virus.

If this research pans out, therapies would focus on controlling the body's reaction the virus so it doesn't cause neurological damage that leads to schizophrenia.

[AzteK]

Originally Posted by CurrentlySober

I had encephalitis once. Thats when the brain kinda splits (not literally, but figuratively) and reality and what it 'tells' you is happening are two VERY different things... and that is a viral infection

So, Schizophrenia is a simler kinda thing... So it could well be viral as well...

That's wild. First time I've heard that, but it's interesting...

What were your experiences like?