“…Several research groups from different countries have shown that there is an increase in antibodies against the zoonotic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii in individuals with schizophrenia compared to individuals without the disease in the same populations (Alvarado-Esquivel et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2006;Cetinkaya et al, 2007;Niebuhr et al, 2008). Researchers have also shown that children born to mothers with antibodies to T. gondii are at an increased risk of developing schizophrenia (Brown et al, 2005;Mortensen, Nørgaard-Pedersen, Waltoft, Sørensen, Hougaard et al, 2007;Mortensen, Nørgaard-Pedersen, Waltoft, Sørensen, Hougaard, Torrey, et al, 2007). One study demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia and positive for antibodies to T. gondii had a significantly increased risk of dying from natural causes compared to patients with schizophrenia and no antibodies to T. gondii (Dickerson et al, 2007).…”