The Correlation Between Toxoplasma Gondii Infection and Schizophrenia: A Comparative Study With Family Members (Control Group)

Results: The prevalence of T. gondii antibody positive cases among patients showed differences between males and females. In the patient group, IgG was positive in 53.2% whereas, 41.4% of the control group had IgG positive (P = 0.02). Age at the time of diagnosis of schizophrenic patients with positive T. gondii IgG and IgM was significantly lower than other cases (34.2 ± 14.3 vs. 49.2 ± 11.7; P = 0.01). Patients with family members that had positive results for IgG ELISA test had higher probability for positive IgM seropositivity. Conclusions: Our results supported the longstanding hypothesis of correlation between T. gondii infection and schizophrenia. We also considered this infection as a possible etiological factor in the development of schizophrenia.