Los Angeles Times

December 5, 2011 at 10:18am 39 notes

health news

Childhood disorder prompts study of infection link to mental illness: Cases of children suddenly exhibiting obsessive-compulsive disorder after strep has led to studies that reinforce the belief that some mental illnesses can be triggered by an immune response.

Brody Kennedy was a typical sixth-grader who loved to hang out with friends in Castaic and play video games. A strep-throat infection in October caused him to miss a couple of days of school, but he was eager to rejoin his classmates, recalls his mother, Tracy.

Then, a week after Brody became ill, he awoke one morning to find his world was no longer safe. Paranoid about germs and obsessed with cleanliness, he refused to touch things and showered several times a day. His fear prevented him from attending school, and he insisted on wearing nothing but a sheet or demanding that his mother microwave his clothes or heat them in the dryer before dressing.

So began a horrific battle with a sudden-onset mental illness that was diagnosed as pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with streptococcus, or PANDAS. The puzzling name describes children who have obsessive-compulsive disorder that occurs suddenly — and often dramatically — within days or weeks of a simple infection, such as strep throat.

Photo: Brody Kennedy, with his mother, Tracy Kennedy and his cat Boogie Su, showed symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder after a bout of strep throat. His mother says the cat helped calm him. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times