Disproportionate Impact of Sexually Transmitted Diseases on Women1

gence of psychotic symptoms complicates establishing direct links. While most reports have been ecologic studies without confirmed maternal infection, Brown et al. (10) found that 20.4% of persons with a documented in utero exposure to rubella developed an adult schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Experimentally, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection in a neonatal rat model produces some latent changes similar to those of schizophrenia, e.g., hippocampal atrophy and impaired inhibitory GABA neurotransmission (11); blocking IL-1 partially attenuates the hippocampal cell loss. Inflammatory cytokine responses, perhaps amplified by immunogenetic abnormalities, may be a common thread linking intrapartum infections and noninfectious gestational and obstetric complications to neurodevelopmental disorders (12).