Infections can provoke psychiatric disorders in children!

Infections can pose a threat to a person’s health and well-being. In this report by SADE OGUNTOLA, experts say that some infections that affect the brain can also increase a person’s chances of eventually developing a range of mental health conditions.

Infectious diseases have varying outcomes. Some infections pose only minor threats to a person’s health and well-being, while others can easily cause severe illness or death. Now, experts warn that infections can also trigger immune attacks on children’s brains, provoking devastating psychiatric disorders.

For more than a century, researchers have reported the presence of some infections apparently increasing a person’s chances of eventually developing mental disorders such as obsessive-compulsive disorders, clinical depression, and schizophrenia, among others.

Scientists have long known that infections can cause neuropsychiatric disease. One of the first known examples was syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum. Before the advent of antibiotics in treating syphilis, it was one of the most common causes of dementia and was frequent among the insane.

Likewise, some have imagined that Bartonella, the germ that causes common cat scratch fever, can sometimes induce anxiety, rage and psychosis. These diseases are caused by living organisms living within the brain.

Unfortunately, even non-severe infections can trigger immune attacks on kids’ brains, provoking psychiatric disorders. “The brain is the organ for thinking. So when there are infections, whether during pregnancy or in the early life of the baby that affects the brain, especially viral infections, some mental illnesses subsequently can occur,” said Dr Jibril Abdulmalik, a child psychiatrist at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Oyo State.

According to him, early childhood infections, including infections during pregnancy have been shown to be associated with subsequent development of some mental illnesses, particularly schizophrenia.

In some people, a serious infection or autoimmune disease could be the trigger for something to go wrong with the functioning of the brain. A report published online in JAMA Psychiatry explores this hypothesis. An autoimmune disease is a frightening scenario in which the body turns on itself and attacks the brain.

The researchers’ assessment of comprehensive Danish databases found that people who had been treated for a severe infection were 62 per cent more likely to have developed a mood disorder than those who never had one.

Multiple infections or the combination of severe infection and an autoimmune disease boosted the odds of developing depression, bipolar disorder, or another mood disorder even further.

Mood disorder is the unofficial, blanket term for various forms of depressive illness and various forms of bipolar disorder.

The researchers estimated that in the Danish population, severe infection and autoimmune disease account for 12 per cent of mood disorders.

Apparently, this malfunction occurs when infectious microorganisms damage the blood-brain barrier and leave the brain more susceptible to infection-related changes normally confined to the rest of the body.

Although infectious agents may play a role in some of these diseases to some unknown degree, Dr Abdulmalik said parents need to be aware that children are very fragile and any infection in a child should be taken seriously.

He declared “This is the universal intervention, not only for mental illness. There are some infections that can cause deafness in a child, some can cause heart problem.  Future development of mental illnesses is just one out of many possible complications.

“Some children can have an infection that will affect their brain and then they become crippled or paralysed all because it was not treated on time. So, it is a general recommendation, not just to prevent mental illness.”

Certainly, infections are very common, but children can also have developmental disorders as a result of injuries they sustain during their birth and the condition of their home environment.

According to him, hereditary is the least cause of a mental problem in children, adding “most mental diseases that are hereditary will not manifest until they get to adulthood, but many mental health problems that affect children have to do with their home environment.”

He declared, “If the home environment is chaotic or if there is domestic violence in the home, such a home environment, for instance, can emotionally traumatise the child. This can cause the child to develop such problems as anxiety, depression, and so on because of the stress.”

The presence of an infection, in a situation where a child is under psychosocial stressors, can further increase the child’s risk of a mental problem in the future.

“The damage would have occurred when they were young, but will start manifesting when they are older. It is not that once a child contracts an infection, he immediately develops a mental illness,” he said.

Moreover, he said  preventing brain damage, a reason for some cases of mental conditions in children require that all pregnant women access good antenatal care.

A situation where the brain of the baby is deprived of oxygen while passing through the birth canal leaves the child at a greater risk of developing mental problems like epilepsy, mental retardation and cerebral palsy.

Unfortunately, Dr Abdulmalik said “the child will grow up, but the brain is irreversibly damaged. And you know that there is no substitute for the brain.

“When she is ready to deliver, they take her to a church or prayer house and then the poor woman is in labour for two days, draining water and the baby is distressed. The brain of the baby will be deprived of oxygen and as such the child stands a greater risk of developing epilepsy.

“Of course, the brain of the child will be stressed seriously. He will grow up, but the brain is irreversibly damaged. And you know that there is no substitute for the brain.

“Poor antenatal care is a major problem and this has to improve. The future life of that baby starts from when it is still in the womb of his mother and on till its first two years of life. It is very important.”

Nonetheless, he said parents can pick telltale signs of mental problems in their children to ensure they could be treated promptly.

Mental illness in children usually are developmental disorders, that is disorders that become apparent as the child is growing up, things like the child not talking, relating to other people like his age mates.

“For instance, children with autism, for example, are cold, they do not show emotions, they do not understand whether you are happy or sad, they cannot read your facial expressions, so if a child appears aloof like that and appears not to be responding emotionally, such a child will require an evaluation to be sure all is well,” he added.

Although the exact cause of most mental illnesses is not known, it is becoming clear through research that many of these conditions are caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and environmental factors.

Mental illnesses sometimes run in families, suggesting that people who have a family member with a mental illness may be somewhat more likely to develop one as well. Susceptibility is passed on in families through genes.

Experts believe many mental illnesses are linked to abnormalities in many genes rather than just one or a few and how these genes interact with the environment is unique for every person. That is why a person inherits a susceptibility to a mental illness and does not necessarily develop the illness.

Mental illness itself occurs from the interaction of multiple genes and other factors such as stress, abuse, or a traumatic event which can influence, or trigger, an illness in a person who has an inherited susceptibility to it.