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Infection could trigger Tourette's syndrome, researchers say WASHINGTON (June 18, 1998 8:27 p.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - An infection could be what triggers Tourette's syndrome, an unusual brain disease that causes tics and involuntary outbursts of noise and swearing, researchers said Thursday. They said a bacterial infection may team up with a genetic tendency to cause the syndrome. "We think antibodies made by the immune system in response to a bacterial infection may go on to attack brain nerve cells in (some) of the children who develop Tourette's," Harvey Singer, a neurology professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said in a statement. Writing in the journal Science, Singer and colleagues said a common infection could be to blame. "The bacteria streptococcus is a leading suspect, but the search for a triggering factor should not be limited to it," Singer said. Singer's team took blood samples from 41 people with Tourette's and 39 people who do not have the syndrome. They exposed them to antibodies from ground-up human brain tissue. Antibodies are proteins released by immune system cell to help identify foreign invaders. Those people with Tourette's had significantly more antibodies against proteins from the putamen, an area at the base of the brain known to be involved in movement. "Brain imaging studies have shown changes in the shape and size of the putamen in Tourette's patients, reinforcing the idea that these antibodies may contribute to the disorder," Singer said. Tourette's affects about five out of every 10,000 people. Doctors suspect a genetic cause because some families are prone to it, as are identical twins of patients. "However, based on family studies, it appears that for some individuals an additional factor is required to cause the disease," Singer said. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service a new voice: http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/janet/index.htm pwp event calendar: http://newww.com/cgi-bin/do_cal?c:pwpc 51/10 - endocarb/selegiline/fluoxetine - [log in to unmask] janet paterson, eic, ccs