Antibody Levels to Herpes Simplex Type I, Measles and Rubella Viruses in Psychiatric Patients

Serum specimens from 318 psychiatric patients and 32 healthy medical personnel (controls) were collected for herpes simplex type I virus plaque neutralization test, measles haemagglutination inhibition and rubella haemagglutination inhibition tests. The k-values of herpes simplex type I antibody were significantly higher in 56 patients with psychotic depression than in 32 controls (p < 0.001), and 15/56 (27 per cent) of the patients with depression had higher antibody values than the highest value in the controls. These results confirm the earlier similar findings with herpes simplex complement fixation test. In 54 patients with schizophrenia and in 32 patients with other psychiatric diseases (neurotic syndromes, personality disorders), the k-values of herpes simplex type 1 antibody were also significantly higher than in the controls, but the difference was not as marked as in the patients with psychotic depression. Similar findings in schizophrenia had not been found in two previous studies with complement fixation technique. The mean rubella antibody titres were not significantly higher in the patients with psychotic depression than in the controls, whereas the mean measles haemagglutination inhibition titres were lower in each psychiatric group tested than in the controls, but the difference was significant only in the group of patients with personality disorders.