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Friday, November 11, 2005

Lyme Disease, Allergies, and Brain Disorders

With spring in the air, I thought it was worth bringing to your attention two connections to brain disorders: Lyme disease and allergies.

According to researchers at Columbia University in New York, in their report, Lyme disease: a neuropsychiatric illness, they state that “A broad range of psychiatric reactions have been associated with Lyme disease including paranoia, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia nervosa, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Depressive states among patients with late Lyme disease are fairly common, ranging across studies from 26% to 66%.” (See also Psychiatric manifestations of Lyme borreliosis.)

In their recently published article, “Allergy, Depression, and Suicide” (Directions in Psychiatry; Hatherleigh), Drs. Teodor T. Postolache (University of Maryland School of Medicine), Hirsh D. Komarow (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Institutes of Health), John W. Stiller (University of Maryland School of Medicine), and Leonardo Tonelli (University of Maryland School of Medicine ) wrote about the reported association between allergies and depression and a possible connection between allergy and suicide.

In it they discuss their hypothesis “that biological environmental factors that result in inflammation and cytokine release at the level of the respiratory mucosa could trigger depression and suicide. These factors include viruses, bacteria, allergens, and pollution particles…” The researchers also discuss the causal relationship between depression/suicidal ideation and cytokine treatment and/or other immunotherapy.

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