Ms. Adabie is Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Doctor of Nursing Practice Candidate, University of California, San Francisco School of Nursing, San Francisco, California. Dr. Hassid is Infection Control Officer, San Mateo Medical Center and Clinics, San Mateo, California. Dr. Hastik is a psychiatrist in private practice, San Francisco, California. Ms. Sinclair is Director of Research Treatment Advocacy Center, Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Quanbeck is Associate Medical Director, Department of Psychiatry, San Mateo County Health, San Mateo, California.
Disclosures The authors report no financial relationships with any companies whose products are mentioned in this article, or with manufacturers of competing products.
Several studies have shown that neuroinflammation increases the severity of mental illness. Consider adjunct anti-inflammatory agents for patients who have elevated levels of inflammatory biomarkers and for whom standard treatment approaches do not adequately control psychiatric symptoms. Also consider testing for the presence of latent infections in the CNS, which could reveal the underlying cause of treatment resistance or the genesis of disabling psychiatric symptoms.
Related Resources
Fond G, Macgregor A, Tamouza R, et al. Comparative analysis of anti-toxoplasmic activity of antipsychotic drugs and valproate. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2014;264(2):179-183.
Hamdani N, Daban-Huard C, Lajnef M, et al. Cognitive deterioration among bipolar disorder patients infected by Toxoplasma gondii is correlated to interleukin 6 levels. J Affect Disord. 2015;179:161-166.
Monroe JM, Buckley PF, Miller BJ. Meta-analysis of antitoxoplasma gondii IgM antibodies in acute psychosis. Schizophr Bull. 2015;41(4):989-998.
