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Children's strep infections linked to tics - study

Posted on: Tuesday, 5 July 2005, 15:38 CDT

By Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Strep throat infections triple a child's risk of developing compulsive behaviors or tics, an indication that the same antibodies that attack the infection may also damage brain cells, a study said on Tuesday.

As many as one in four children develop some kind of tic disorder that can range from a compulsive ordering of objects to obsessive hand-washing to the uncontrolled lashing out of Tourette's syndrome sufferers.

In many cases, the tic disappears after a period of time, but Tourette's and obsessive-compulsive disorder may be lifelong afflictions that can be quelled only with powerful drugs.

"Genetics more than likely play a major role in these conditions, but strep throat might be one of the triggers," said Dr. Robert Davis of the Center for Health Studies in Seattle, one of the authors of the study.

The study identified children aged 4 to 13 with tics who were patients of Davis' Seattle-based Group Health Cooperative between 1992 and 1999, and they were matched with children without tics.

Based on their medical histories, children with tics were twice as likely as tic-free children to have had a streptococcal infection - primarily strep throat - within the previous three months. For those who had multiple infections, the risk of developing a tic tripled.

Davis said many scientists believe the body's response to infection, and to the antibiotics prescribed to fight it, is to produce antibodies that attack not only the infection but may also damage brain cells that control movement and behavior.

"Strep infections share certain proteins that stimulate a set of antibodies that cross-react with the brain," he said.

The result is an autoimmune response, where the body's own immune system attacks healthy cells as in multiple sclerosis or lupus. So far, science has failed to find cures for autoimmune diseases.

Strep infections are common, but Davis said it was too early to know whether choosing one treatment option or none at all would help stave off tics.

"This is scientific research at this point," Davis said. "One thing we didn't study was whether treatment (with penicillin) modifies these conditions."

The study was published in Pediatrics, the monthly journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Source: REUTERS

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